The Missing Years
by WolfoftheMoonStorm
Summary: Howard Stark had vanished from his son's life for nearly three years. And the painful evidence showed. Tony was suffering from vivid nightmares that nothing seemed to be able to keep at bay and Howard, unable to ask any of the three members of Team Iron Man exactly what had happened while he was gone, had only one resort left: his son's memories. ON HOLD TEMPORARILY
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

**So this is a new story of Howard witnessing everything Tony went through since the plane crash and his reactions to it. Please note there will probably a little OOC for some of Howard's reactions because 1. I'm not perfect at writing and 2. It might fit the storyline a bit better. It just kind of occurred to me that we never really got to see Howard's reaction to **_**everything**_** Tony had been up to, so I of course had the **_**start-writing-right-now**_** urge that nearly killed me and bam. Sorry if it's bad. PLEASE R&R so I know whether or not to keep going.**

* * *

Every single night, never missing even one unless he was drop dead tired from fighting one of his oh-so-common enemies until three in the morning to stop their assassination attempts against every person he cared about. Every single night his son's shouts would wake him up, and he would go into his room and comfort him. Howard wouldn't say much. He _knew_ Tony hated to talk about things like this, especially now. Now, when the simple idea of the word "weak" sent him falling into the endless chasm of his eternal fears. No, he wouldn't say much, but he would sit on the edge of the bed and listen to the half formed sentences that Tony muttered out in his barely awake state and try to piece together everything he had missed in his son's life while Gene had held him captive. And in return he would tell Tony it was going to be okay and that he wasn't alone anymore, but these words were not enough.

The nightmares never stopped. In fact, they seemed to get worse over time, especially since the Makluan invasion. He couldn't even wake Tony up from them anymore. The nightmares would run their course and his son would wake up drenched in sweat and shivering, his eyes wide in panic with a glint of a cornered wild animal, ready to lash out at anything nearby, which he did for the first few seconds before Tony would recognize him and flinch at the memory of the nightmare and resume his trembling and sleep-soaked sentences.

But this was not enough for Howard Stark anymore. He wanted to help his son, but there was a problem. A _big _problem. He had been gone for years. His son was almost eighteen by the time he came back. He had a secret identity and had been struggling with a burden that he couldn't quite grasp. He never asked about what had happened, not once did he ask for specifics. From what he could gather, there had been way too many close calls for comfort and Tony or Rhodey or Pepper going out by themselves for a mission had become unofficially banned. Forever. He wanted to help them, he did in his own small way, but what he really wanted was to help Tony get past these nightmares. But how could he do that? How could he help him if he didn't know anything about these past, almost three years?

_He didn't know anything about these past, almost three years._

_And Tony was suffering from them._

_That had to stop. Now._

He came to this conclusion after watching Tony fall haphazardly back to sleep for what felt like the zillionth time. No more being clueless, or so he hoped. He would, of course, speak to Rhodey and Pepper first, as he didn't _want _to go ahead with his plan. What sick, twisted parent would _want_ to invade their child's memories? Even if the ones you sought could be watched within the span of eight and a half hours and it was for a "just cause"? Not him. But he couldn't sit by and watch Tony suffer anymore. So while Iron Man was out patrolling and the other two were studying for Final Exams (he would never admit it but he was ridiculously proud that Tony barely had to study and passed with flying colors… although he supposed that might say something about school education), he muted the com link for a bit and sat down across from the two studying pilots.

"Rhodey, Pepper, I need your adv-… to ask you both something." Howard frowned; his forehead wrinkling slightly as he dully noted he was already struggling to phrase his sentences. Rhodey and Pepper looked up and closed their book slowly, a look of reluctant recognition crossed their faces and Howard shot a briefly puzzled glance at them. It was Pepper who answered his silent question, "Rhodey's mom had the same tone of voice when she asked about Tony's nightmares. Although it sounds like we were wrong, it sounds like it is getting worse, not better." Howard noted that Rhodey let out an empty sigh, "They're connected. The nightmares are caused by the plane crash and every single thing that has ever happened since Tony first put on that suit. I suppose you'd want us to tell you but…" Rhodey trailed off as he and Pepper exchanged a glance. "But a lot happened." Pepper finished his sentence, her voice catching ever so slightly.

Howard Stark sighed in defeat. It was obvious that asking them about it would only leave him with more questions; and them with fresh salt in old wounds. "No, I have a way to… to view his memories without causing any harm," Howard paused and mentally added _I think_, "but I just don't want to invade his mind like that if I can help it somehow. I'm not sure he's sleeping when he's asleep anymore. I can't just… sit by and watch this…even if it means viewing his memories without his permission." Howard paused and clasped his hands together, lifting his eyes to look evenly at the two apprehensive teens in front of him, "I know he won't tell me. Or give me permission. He's trying to hide everything that happened. He doesn't want me to have to deal with it. You know it too, don't you?"

If anything, the two pilots looked down right startled and extremely nervous and indecisive. Howard blinked as he realized what he left out, "I'm still going to ask Tony first, but the odds are that he'll tell me no." Pepper and Rhodey looked immediately relieved and Pepper spoke up with a touch of her usual cheerfulness, "You don't know that. Tony surprises people a lot. He'll always do what you most expect _and _what you least expect." Pepper's eyes dimmed a lit and he voice became a little quieter, "But I don't know what to tell you if he _doesn't_ agree." Rhodey nodded and fixed his gaze on the book on his lap. "We can't tell you right or wrong here. He's been through a lot, but I don't know if it would help to see it or make it worse. Especially without his permission. If you do it, then he may hold that against you for a _really _long time or he may forgive you." Rhodey shook his head helplessly, "It's Tony, man. It's _always_ hard to know what to do." Rhodey lifted his gaze to meet Howard's own directly. Rhodey's eyes narrowed and his voice hardened a little bit, "But I can promise you this: You go in there, and you're going to find out and see things that you might wish you hadn't."

* * *

"_You go in there, and you're going to find out and see things that you might wish you hadn't."_

Those words echoed around in Howard's head as he stood in front of his speechless son. Tony was sitting on his bed, looking as haggard and thin as had apparently become normal with all these nightmares and the circles under his eyes only highlighted his son's lack of restful sleep. He had just told Tony of his optional plan, leaving out the fact that, yes or no, the plan was going into action anyway. He had an entire debate prepared to argue with his son. And then it was his turn to be utterly speechless and take about ten minutes to process what the person across from him had just said.

"Okay."

Howard's mind circled back to his earlier conversation. _Pepper was right._ Completely and utterly unexpected. And then his son continued, possibly trying to convince himself that this was okay. "I mean, you have a right to know, and I get that you're worried and…" Tony trailed off, his eyes looking a little lost. The expression said volumes thought. _"I need to talk to you about it, but the one thing I can't do is tell the story."_ Those were the unspoken words hovering in the air.

Howard blinked for a minute and sat down on the edge of the bed and smiled at his son. "Thank you, Tony, for trusting me with this." Tony simply nodded tensely and swallowed, his eyes regaining that hunted look that only appeared when he woke up. Howard felt a pang of sorrow at the look in his son's eyes, at how his finger's twitched and his muscles tensed as his eyes flickered from place to place, anticipating an attack at any moment. "But for this to work… you… you have to be asleep, Tony." And of course, he got the expected reaction this time. Tony visibly cringed and his eyes glinted unhappily for a moment but he nodded and laid down.

Howard had expected to have to wait some time for Tony to fall asleep, or have to help him fall asleep or something along those lines, but he was a little startled to discover that Tony fell asleep almost instantly. _Of course, not getting any proper rest makes anyone tired. I'm surprised he has the energy to stand up and walk, much less fully operate the Iron Man armor and _well _at that._ He thought a little bitterly, once again upset by his son's deteriorating condition.

Howard had just stood up and been ready to turn on the device when he caught sight of two figures by the door. Rhodey and Pepper walked into the dim light the window of Tony's room offered. Pepper spoke quickly, her tone sharp. "We're coming with you. I mean, you aren't going to be able to face that alone, and we already know all of it so we'll… we'll be fine in there and… don't bother arguing and-" Howard cut off the determined-looking Pepper. "Thank you." Half of him was screaming at his logical self right now. Bring these two with him to relive that kind of nightmare? How cruel could he get? But half of him was selfish and realized that _he did not stand_ _a microscopic chance _of getting in and out of this by himself. That, and Pepper and Rhodey looked like they might snap his invention in two if he told them no. So he agreed, and they visibly relaxed, and he mentally slapped himself. Over and over again.

Howard ignored his mental punishment and held out him hand, palm facing up as he uncurled his fingers. A small injection needle with a deep purple liquid rested on his hand. "This serum will access his memories and, depending on how much serum I inject, will rewind to a specific point in time and play until it reaches the present." Howard explained as the two teens edged closer. He used his other hand to gesture towards a small metal kit on the ground. "I hook us up to a receiver and a transmitter to Tony and it will let us see and watch Tony's memories, but we can't interact with them in any way. It will feel like you're walking around for real, but you'll just go straight through everything and your real body won't move." He explained the process rapidly as he opened the kit and pulled out the pitch-black box that connected everything and placed the tapes that held the wires on specific around their brains on their scalps.

Howard waited until Pepper and Rhodey were comfortable before returning his attention to Tony and adjusting one of the wires. "Ready?" Howard asked nervously. Two small nods were his answer and he whispered his usual words of comfort to Tony as he injected the serum into the back of Tony's neck. Howard sat down and hesitated for a moment, staring at his son's restless expression and for a fleeting second he almost wanted to quit, but he shook his head ever so slightly and closed his eyes.

Then he flicked the machine on and his world was plunged into darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**Okay, so I'm planning to try to do at least an entire episode per chapter. I'll update whenever I can, but I'm not only writing fan fiction, but working on my own stories as well, and I've got a busy school schedule coming up when it starts again AND I'm doing family vacations this summer. None of these are **_**excuses**_**, promise, but I'm going to apologize in an advance if I don't update in what feels like **_**forever.**_** Again, please R&R so I know whether to continue or not. Oh, and by the way: no, I'm not planning on having Howard react to **_**every little thing**_**, but that doesn't mean just the "major things" either. (Now, if you're thinking "**_**what?"**_** my answer is **_**"You'll see."**_**) Also, I was thinking that I actually wouldn't mind creating scenes if I read a good one, so I'm placing my email on my profile page in case anyone wants to read a specific scene (of their creation or idea) or reaction from one of the characters. I have no idea how that sentence sounds since this popped up in my head as I was typing. Anyway… randomness aside and stuff.**

**Okay, now that that is out of the way: read on!**

Howard blinked open his eyes to utter blackness all around him, pressing in on his sides. He looked down out his hands; they seemed solid enough to him, but he knew they weren't really there. It was part of the program he built into the system: give the user or users artificial bodies so they would feel proportional to the memories and not overwhelmed. Only his consciousness was really here or _aware_. A moment later, both Pepper and Rhodey popped into existence across from him and snapped open their eyes. They were the only things he could see and he waited patiently and explained why they could see themselves as they waved their hands in front of their faces.

Pepper looked around, "So, why _is _it so dark? I mean, aren't we supposed to be watching Tony's memories? Did your invention not work right? Can we get out of here if it is? Oh, how do we get out once we're done in the first place? No really, why can't I see anything but you and Rhodey? Not that I'm really anxious to relive this anyway, but-"

"Pepper!" Rhodey silenced the red-head who shot him a look that said _"what?"_

Howard chuckled softly, "The process takes a minute, Pepper. The serum takes a minute to interact with the… let's just call the 'memory core' of Tony's mind and access the farthest back it can until the present. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough serum for that, so I reprogramed it to play up to a little after the Makluan invasion. Now we c_an_ watch from the beginning. That, and Tony also has to be deep enough asleep. He's been taking pills for that," Howard grit his teeth, having only discovered that fact a few days ago, "so it shouldn't be a problem." The unsurprised looks on Pepper and Rhodey's faces confirmed his suspicions that they knew about it.

A few minutes later the darkness around them rippled and shapes began constructing themselves all around them as all three of the viewers rose to their feet as Tony and past Rhodey appeared a short distance away. Howard looked around the lab for a moment, as did Rhodey, before returning his gaze to Tony, who was bent over the original Iron Man armor, sparks flying as he added some finishing touches.

"Well, what do you think?" Tony's voice rang out and past Rhodey took a step forward to join Tony by the armor. He examined it for a moment before replying, "Colorful, but you know your dad's just gonna invent something else to top this. You guys are like dueling evil geniuses." Tony smiled, "Not this time, Rhodey." Tony gestured toward the armor as Rhodey crossed his arms. "This one's different. He's gonna freak out. Come with me to show him!" Tony encouraged his friend. "Yeah, some of us have to go to school, Tony. You ever heard of it?" Rhodey replied, pointing at his friend jokingly. Tony brought his right hand up to his chin and rested his elbow on his left arm. "Sounds awful." He dropped his hands, "I'll call you tonight to let you know how it went." "Uh, yeah. I'm holding my breath starting riiight now." Rhodey brought his right arm up and looked at his watch and swung his arm down on _now_. Tony laughed and playfully pushed Rhodey out of the lab.

The image faded out, but returned a moment later and Howard quickly recognized the Stark International tower in front of them. Tony walked up to the door, waving and greeting one of the workers while the door slid open automatically to grant him entrance. He quickly entered the elevator and Howard, Rhodey, and Pepper rushed in to follow him as it occurred to them that that was what they were supposed to be doing anyway.

"It worked, it really worked!" Pepper opened her mouth for the first time, finally wrapping her mind around the idea that she was _watching _Tony's memories. "Oh, this is so cool! So, we can't touch anything, right? Oh, wow!" Pepper exclaimed as her hands went straight through both Tony and the elevator wall. Rhodey followed her lead, his eyes glinting with disbelief as he stuck his hand straight through a wall and waved his other in front of Tony to no reaction. "I feel like Ghost." Howard blinked, recalling that name from one of Tony's enemy files. It hadn't been accessed for a long time when he went through it, and he had wondered why. It looked like more than one of his questions would be answered tonight.

Tony stepped out of the elevator as it opened the doors with a soft _ding_ and greeted the nearby Security Guard who informed Tony of Howard's whereabouts. Rhodey and Pepper smiled as they watched Tony walk casually through the building, exchanging greetings with the workers. "Wonder if he missed this the most." Rhodey broke the silence as Tony neared a receptionist. "What?" Howard asked distractedly as his unwilling mind compared the stressed Tony of present day to the relaxed Tony of the memories. "The familiarity this place had for him. How it was so easily his home. I mean, this place did a one-eighty the next time we came here. Nothing was the same, really." Rhodey clarified and Howard frowned unhappily. This was news to him. None of the three teens seemed too keen to tell him exactly what the company was like while he was gone. Was that also part of why his son seemed to harbor dislike for Obadiah?

"Hi, Trish." Tony's voice interrupted his thoughts and he refocused on the memory again. The brown-haired woman smiled up at Tony, her eyes shifting behind her glasses to look at him. She had her hair done up in a bun and a strand of it was hanging down in front of her left ear. "Well look who finally came out of his lab. Your dad's inside, Tony." Trish replied warmly. Tony turned the handle of the black door and went inside, "Thanks."

Howard entered the darkened room behind his son, both of their eyes fixed on the figure in front of them. It was an extremely surreal moment to be looking at himself. The past Howard was leaning forward slightly, his hands resting lightly on the desk in front of him as the blue holographic data illuminated the area in front of them. He was dressed in long blue jeans and a long-sleeved white shirt and had his back to the entering group. Howard and the two present-day teens immediately recognized the data in front of them: it was on the Makluan rings.

"No, go ahead and proceed with the Earth Mover trial run." The past Howard's voice rang through the silence as he shifted the data in front of him with his fingertips. "I'll be at the site in an hour and I'll have the ring with me." He paused for a moment as he listened to the reply. "Good, see you then." Past Howard answered and ended the call as he closed the data. "Are the laser systems I designed for your Earth Mover up and running yet?" Tony asked as he walked closer. Past Howard turned around to look at Tony, "Or are you still in ancient history mode?" Tony finished as the windows opened and the light turned back on. Both present and past Howard laughed, "Very funny."

Howard removed the Bluetooth from his ear and placed it back on the desk, "They've already completed testing the lasers and are using them in the field today. Want to come see it with me?" Past Howard asked. Tony placed a hand behind his head, looking down and away slightly. "_Actually_, I've got something to show you." Tony looked back up, keeping his hand up and facing the ceiling, his fingers twitching slightly in gesture. "At the testing grounds. Something big." Tony dropped his hand and swung his arms out to the side for emphasis. "Big huh? Well, in that case-" Howard began to reply as the door swung open and Obadiah Stane entered, "Howard!" He snapped, his light grey-blue eyes narrowed.

Behind him Trish was standing with her mouth open slightly as though she was about to reprimand him. "It's okay, Trish." Howard intervened and Trish readjusted her glasses, standing silently in the doorway. "Why did you reject my proposal for repurposing the Earth Movers?" Obadiah demanded as Trish closed the door as she exited the room. "The military will pay billions for them once they've been modified." Stane continued, gesturing with a vanilla folder that was stamped with the word _"confidential"_ in red ink. Past Howard and Tony both had slight glares on their faces, hidden beneath stern expressions. "Modified?" Howard replied, "You want to turn an invention intended to make people's lives better into a weapon. That's not gonna happen." He raised his right arm, palm open and elbow bent, as he leaned against the desk behind him. "This is insane, Howard! You're costing this company and our shareholders a-" Stane began, but past Howard cut him off. "A fortune, I know. But Stark International is _my _company." Howard's tone dropped; his voice stern. "Please, be reasonable." Stane said, extending the folder in front of him. "It's my company, and my word is final." Howard replied shortly. Stane gritted his teeth, his expression angry, and turned on his heel and walked out. "I don't think Obadiah is too happy with you." Tony said as the door shut, his voice laced with concern. Memory Howard laughed and placed his hand on Tony's shoulder. "I think you're right. Now, I've got one quick stop to make, and then we'll see what's got you so excited." Howard left his hand on Tony's shoulder as they exited the room.

"Huh, I guess Tony really did start hating Stane _after_ the plane crash. And I broke it to him that Stane had the most to gain from his dad's death. I don't know whether to say that was quick or not." Pepper remarked and Rhodey nodded in agreement as Howard eyed the two teens, an ominous feeling running through his veins. _"You go in there, and you're going to find out and see things that you might wish you hadn't."_ Rhodey's words suddenly seemed much more real.

The ominous feeling intensified as the familiar roar of a plane shattered the darkness that had just consumed the previous memory and the comfy interior of said plane appeared around them. "Oh, not this." Howard felt a bolt of unwillingness strike him and the two teens shot him worried looks. "What? What's wrong with this? What's going on?" Pepper asked, but when she turned her eyes on memory Tony and Howard who were sitting across from each other and looked out the window to see clouds she went quiet. "Oh. The crash." Howard nodded bleakly, his eyes fixed on the pictures of Makluan ruins on the table.

"Some historians have theorized that the Chinese had explorers in the New World long before the Europeans did. The archeological site we found, the artifacts we're recovering from it, it's a mystery. It's got _everything _to do with the Makluan rings!" Memory Howard explained excitedly, leaning forward in his blue and white chair as Tony leaned back and shifted in his, resting his head on his left hand. "Wow is that boring!" Tony stated, crossing his arms. "The Chinese thought the rings were magic, but from what we're learning, I think they may actually be a form of technology." Howard continued as though Tony hadn't said a word. "Imagine, Tony! Technology more advanced than what we have now, but hundreds if not thousands of years before the Industrial Revolution!" Howard looked at the ring on his right hand for a moment before lowering it to return his gaze to Tony.

"For someone who's supposed to be shaping the future, you're hobbies are _really _old-school." Tony retorted, shaking his head slightly. Memory Howard chuckled along with present-day Rhodey and Pepper. "Take a look, smart guy." Howard leaned over the edge of his chair to look down out the window. "There's your genius at work down there." Tony joined his father in looking out the window, his expression interested and expectant.

In the blink of an eye, the memory changed and suddenly both Howards and all three teens were standing on a raised platform, watching a giant machine that was white with orange stripes and had six massive legs supporting it move around on the ground below. "The hard-light laser and targeting system you invented acts like a scalpel." The Earth Mover worked in time with his words, demonstrating the effectiveness of said white laser as Memory Howard spoke. "Combined with real-time seismographic readings, the Earth Mover will not only revolutionize archeology, but just imagine the benefits for disaster relief. Collapsed buildings, cave-ins. Your invention will save lives, Tony." Howard lifted one hand off of the rail both he and Tony were leaning on to gesture to the young genius to his left. Tony grinned, "It also made your last invention look like a fifth grade science project." Present-day Rhodey choked back a chuckle as Pepper crossed her arms and pressed her lips together to do the same. "Yeah, and that's why I'm grounding you for a month!" Memory Howard replied as Tony crossed his arms on the rail. "_What_?!" Tony jerked his head around to look at his father, expression frozen in disbelief. Pepper and Rhodey broke out laughing and Howard smiled. "You're so easy it's not even fun." Memory Howard told Tony, who immediately looked relieved. "Howard?" A man in a long white lab coat and mask asked, his goggles hiding the color of his eyes behind a light blue screen. "What?" Tony's voice skipped slightly as he went from disbelief to relief and back disbelief. "Giving up your magic ring?" Howard placed said ring in the box offered by the man and answered Tony as they walked away. "Only for the day. We're doing a comparative analysis of it and the new artifacts we've been finding here at the site. The more we can learn about it, the better chance we have to unlock the ring's secrets. Okay, genius. Let's get to the testing grounds and see what you've got."

Howard smiled at the relaxed interaction between the two people in the memory, but felt a cold stone settle in his stomach as he knew that was about to come to an abrupt end. Pepper had her arms crossed, by he could see that she was gripping her upper arm, not tightly, but not loosely either. Rhodey seemed to be fairing a bit better, but both his shoulders and hands were tense, and his gaze was fixed worriedly on Tony. Howard set his teeth tightly and forced himself to remember _that it was just a memory_ as the scene around them faded and was replaced with the scene of the plane from earlier, but this time the holographic image of Trish was hovering in between Tony and memory Howard.

"Yes, Trish?" Howard asked evenly. "I'm sorry, Howard." Trish began, sounding truly apologetic. "It's Mr. Stane. He insists on talking to you." Howard nodded slightly, "It's okay, Trish, put him through." The hologram disappeared as Howard lifted his hand to his head. "I think I'm gonna have to let Obadiah go. He's become obsessed with weapons." Tony was sitting in the opposite chair again, resting his chin on his hand. "A million dollars say this is about the Earth Movers again." "You're on." Howard challenged. "I'm gonna head back and prep before we land." Tony replied, getting up out of his seat and walking towards the back of the plane. "Howard, I want to talk to you about the Earth Mover deal." Stane's voice said the minute his hologram filled the space Trish's just had. Tony cheered as he continued walking, "Hooray, I'm rich!" Howard and Stane's voices quickly became muffled as they followed Tony to the back of the plane. A containment unit filled the wall and they watched as Tony began punching in a code on the key pad on the door. A strange buzzing filled the air and drew Tony's attention to his right as a bright white light filled the grate. Tony covered his face with his crossed arms and took a stumbling step back as the light grew brighter and the sound became louder. Tony's yell filled their ears and Pepper and Rhodey closed their eyes as the plane around them erupted into flames and went hurtling towards the ground below.

They cracked open their eyes to see Tony punch in the last of the code while struggling against the effects of the free fall and reach into grab what they recognized as the Mark I gauntlet. Then the plane split and fell to pieces with the last of the explosion and they barely saw that Tony had activated the gauntlet and barely triggered the shield before a piece of the plane knocked the uncovered back of his head and the memory went dark.

What felt like years later, the memory returned with a loud sound of Tony's shield shutting down and Howard watched his son jerk into a sitting position as the memory faded in and out unevenly and the colors drifted between black and white and back to their original color. Pepper and Rhodey took in the sight around them unwillingly. The plane was smoking, the front and end were intact but a long distance away from each other and the middle of the plane was now in shards of varying sizes- from twice the size of a full grown human to small than their fingers- and was up in flames that created smoke that consumed the air.

Tony himself was no better off. His clothes were torn and bloody and he had scratches and injuries covering him- indicating that he had failed to active his shield immediately and had instead struggled back to consciousness momentarily to do so. They watched in horror as Tony crawled slowly across the ground to the containment unit lying a short distance away from him, the memory growing dimmer and dimmer as he struggled for breath.

Tony placed his hand on a glowing yellow circle and it opened immediately. Howard watched numbly- fearful of his son dying yet trying to encourage himself to remember, yet again, that it was _just a memory _and Tony was _just_- mostly- _fine_, sort of. It wasn't working. Tony reached in and placed the familiar Iron Man helmet on his head and the face plate slid shut with a quiet click. Tony turned to lean against the metal in front of him as he struggled to speak. "Ac-tivation code: stark…02." The computer's voice echoed around them and all three of the memory viewers jerked, surprised. _"Stark Exosuit activated. Scanning. Alert: medical systems detect extensive damage to user's heart and chest. Treatment in progress." _

Howard felt a bolt of cold fear as Rhodey and Pepper shared a look. "Uh oh. We never told him, did we?" Rhodey said with a glance at Howard. Pepper shook her head. "No, but for a good reason, right? Right?" Pepper laughed nervously and returned her attention to Tony. "Never told me what?" Howard asked, but Tony cut through the conversation. "Navigation systems…engage auto…pilot. Take me… Take me to Rhodey." Then memory went dark.

"Told me what?" Howard repeated as the next memory delayed to appear. He marked it as a time skip and suddenly felt extremely grateful that he made the serum adaptable. It would only show him what he needed- and Tony's subconscious was probably influencing that since he knew what Howard was trying to see. Rhodey looked away and Pepper clasped her hands behind her back and tapped her toes on the ground. "You know how the suit told Tony there was extensive damage to his heart?" Pepper began, but stopped short, her expression unhappy. Howard narrowed his eyes, and shifted his gaze to Rhodey. "The suit couldn't fix that kind of damage… no one could." Rhodey finished, albeit unwillingly. Howard felt like his blood froze in his veins as the next memory flickered into existence.

They were in a room in Roberta's house. Tony's things filled the shelves and a computer sat on a desk across from the bed. Quite a few wires and electronics filled the entire room. Over the bed a small skylight illuminated Tony's face. Tony was lying stretched out on the bed, one arm draped over his forehead. But none of this caught Howard's attention. Instead, the small, glowing blue pulsing light that beat at the same rhythm of a heart that was _in the middle of his son's chest_ with a small metal pattern around it that Howard assumed was supposed to complete the machine was not allowing him to look away like he so desperately wanted to. "What… what is _that_?" He managed to say. Rhodey looked at memory Tony unhappily, "His heart implant." He replied, and Howard froze. "It's keeping him alive."

Many, _many_ emotions were going through Howard at this moment, but he finally settled on anger for a brief second. _How_ could Tony _not_ tell him about this? But then his mind- which would not let him go through the process of _thinking _about it provided him with an answer: because Tony didn't want him to freak out like he was doing now. Because Tony cared too much to ruin any of his days with this piece of information. Because he was Tony. Because this was tied too close to what kept him up at night. Howard, for the first time in his life, did _not _want to be as smart as he was. Nope, he wanted to be stupid. Just so he could be angry for thirty seconds. And then even that thought was gone and all he said was, "Oh." And then he followed it up with, "But if it was keeping him alive, how come he doesn't have it now?" And Pepper, apparently too relieved with the fact that the father of the boy who had still not moved an inch from the bed was not flipping out, answer with one word, "Extremis." And then Howard stopped thinking and just watched, squashing yet another emotional roller coaster.

The rapid beeping of Tony's alarm clock finally encouraged the boy to sit up just to turn it off, and Tony let out a short, unwilling breath of air and rested his head against his arm that was supported by his knee that was being kept at shoulder level thanks to him having his foot on the bed. Howard frowned, it's not like he expected Tony to be happy six months after he "died", which Pepper had just informed him of through a whisper, but he felt worse just watching how plainly _tired and upset_ Tony seemed just from the idea of having to start another day.

"Breakfast is ready, Tony." A voice broke the silence as the door handle behind them turned and Howard looked around to see Roberta walking in through the doorway. "Thanks, Mrs. Rhodes. I'll be right there." Tony replied. "James is downstairs already. Once you finish eating the two of you can go over to Stark International, then head to school." Tony looked down at the floor and Roberta placed a hand on Tony's shoulder. "It'll be okay, Tony, you'll see."

Howard had barely blinked before the images changed again and Tony and Rhodey were standing in front of Stark International. "Can you check again? I have an appointment." Tony's voice called his attention. A guard dressed all in black stood in front of them. "And you said your name was?" Tony appeared tired of what seemed to be a repetitive conversation already, "Tony. Tony Stark." Howard remembered how Rhodey had commented on how much Stark International had changed for Tony and shivered at how the answer sounded more like a question. "Yeah, you know. As in _Stark International_? The company you _work for_?" Memory Rhodey spoke up in irritation. "Yeah, they say they've got an appointment with Mr. Stane. Says his name is Stark. Uh-huh." The many spoke into the microphone on his headset. "Uh-huh. Uh-huh." Tony and Rhodey exchanged a glance. "You can go up." The guard finally said, pointing behind him. "Finally." Rhodey said, uncrossing his arms and taking a step forward. The guard reached out a hand to stop him, "Not you. Just him." The guard looked at Tony and Tony quickly stretched an arm out in front of Rhodey as Rhodey exclaimed, "What? Oh, come on!" Tony glanced at his friend, "It's okay, Rhodey." Memory Rhodey shot a glare at the guard and placed a hand on Tony's shoulder to guide him a few steps away. "Are you sure you're up for this?" Rhodey asked and Tony looked down. "Yeah. Hey, it's still my dad's company, right?" Tony replied and they both looked up at the Stark International tower.

A few minutes later Tony was being escorted through the building by a guard. Howard shivered at the stony silence in the building, filled only by ringing phones and the clacks of keyboards. This was _not_ the same relaxed, warm-hearted company he left behind. Not at all. Howard watched as Tony glanced around unhappily and he could practically _see_ the normal feeling of home _draining_ out of Tony. All three of the memory watchers were suddenly placed in an extremely unhappy mood. "Trish!" Tony's happy exclamation dragged Howard out of his thoughts and he felt better for a fleeting second at Tony's smile, and then he saw the guard place a restraining hand on Tony's shoulder as his son reached out to wave and Howard _swore_ his mood dropped lower than before. "Huh?" Tony glanced at the hand on his shoulder as Trish looked back at her computer, "Mr. Stane will see you now, Tony." Tony walked away, the guard's hand slipping off his shoulder, and entered Howard's old- well now it _was_ his again- office.

"No, that's right. I want them brought up to the specs the military sent over. You have my authorization as CEO." Stane's voice filled the room as Tony approached the desk. Stane turned the chair around, his fingertips touching as he rested his elbows on the sides of the chair, to face Tony. "What's going on, Obadiah?" Tony asked as he sat down in a chair across from Stane. Howard felt a little shocked at the question. Tony was usually filled in on what was going on at Stark International. _"What's going on?"_ was a question rarely heard from Tony, and only if it was supposed to be a surprise. "What're you doing with-" Stane cut him short. "Tony, Tony. Don't worry. Stark International is in good hands. Nothing you need to be concerned with. I'm so sorry we didn't have more time to talk after your father's funeral. It hit us all so hard." It took that specific duration of time for Howard to notice that the Makluan ring was on Stane's finger. And at the moment, he didn't know how to feel about it. Stane's words and part of his tone didn't add up, and he could see on Tony's face that his son could hear it too. "But you have my word that I will personally take care of everything until you are legally ready to step back in." Stane continued, holding his right hand over his heart. "I want to be involved. My father built this company and he wanted-" Tony began to reply and Howard almost wanted duct tape for Stane as he cut off Tony again. "This is what your father wanted, Tony. He wanted you living with the Rhodes, going to school, being a normal kid." Tony now looked like his day had gone from bad to worse. "I want all of my research and my father's notes and-" And now Howard was very, very angry with Stane for yet again interrupting Tony _and_ denying him what he had just asked for with one sentence since Howard personally felt like Tony's research was, well- Tony's. "Everything you and your father worked on is all company property. Stark International is a company, after all. Not your personal playground." And now Howard understood _exactly _why Tony so obviously didn't like Stane. Not the _best_ way to get off on the right foot.

A moment later, a hologram of Trish appeared. "Mr. Stane, your next appointment is here." The hologram vanished just as quickly and Stane rose to his feet and walked around the desk, extending one hand toward Tony. "I'm glad we had this talk Tony, and I'll see you again when you turn eighteen." Unfortunately for Stane, he extended the hand with the Makluan ring on it, which, judging by his expression, Tony had caught sight of. In record time, Tony was practically marching out of the building and Howard could tell his son was just _seething_ with anger. Memory Rhodey looked up greeted Tony with a smile. "Hey, how'd it-" Past Rhodey stopped short as Tony pulled off his backpack and threw it before kicking it as hard as he could down the side walk. Surprisingly, Howard found he felt better after watching that and somewhat felt the urge to do the same just so he would stop being angry with his old friend. He _knew_ Stane was just fulfilling his wishes, but there was _no_ reason to go about it like _that_. "Never mind." He overheard memory Rhodey say.

The memory vanished and was quickly replaced with the sight of Tony and Rhodey walking up the stairs to the entrance of the Tomorrow Academy. "Look at it this way," memory Rhodey said, "in two years, you get to fire him. It'll be worth the wait." Present-day Pepper laughed and even Howard felt a small smile slip out, mentally checking a box that reminded him that he didn't quite agree with the statement out of respect for his old friend. Tony however, was not laughing. "Do we have to do this? This… school thing?" Tony asked in a bored voice. "Can't we just ditch or something? I can show you the lab I've been fixing up." A touch of interest entered Tony's voice, but Howard frowned. He had specifically stated in his will that Tony would not inherit Stark International if he couldn't keep up a good GPA, so why wasn't Tony more concerned with school? Present-day Rhodey looked over at him, and answered his unspoken question. "Mom hadn't shown him your will yet. He didn't know." Howard's expression cleared, but he still frowned slightly. That probably meant he was going to be watching Tony's grades slip. _A lot_. Especially since Iron Man was going to come into the picture.

"Not a chance. If my mom found out we skipped your first day of school she would crush us. She _is _a lawyer, remember?" Rhodey replied immediately as they headed down a mildly crowed hallway filled with the sounds of high school chatter and opening and closing lockers. "Why would my dad want me to go to school? It doesn't make sense. I mean he taught me everything I need…" Tony trailed off as a girl looking over her shoulder as she jogged down the hallway accidently ran into them. "Oops." The girl apologized and vanished down the hallway. "You know, maybe I should give this a try." Tony said, still looking down the hallway. Howard laughed, and the paused, wondering how he should feel about that statement, while present-day Pepper was now glaring fiercely at Tony and then down the hallway. Howard raised an eyebrow as he watched the red-head, but decided that it would be better _not_ to comment on her expression unless he _wanted_ to suffer. Instead he returned his gaze to watching Rhodey drag Tony down the hallway to their first class.

"What you're looking at here is the hardest math equation in the world, and has yet to be solved." The grey-haired professor standing at the front of the classroom said as he finished writing the equation with a black marker on the whiteboard. "Ugh, here he goes." Present-day Rhodey groaned and Howard shot him a puzzled look. "Tony." Rhodey clarified with another unwilling groan. The professor continued, "What we're doing today is far less difficult, and-"

"Sir?" Tony's voice cut the teacher off and both he and Howard turned to look at Tony. Tony lowered his raised hand. "Forty-two?" Tony said, and Howard turned to look at the equation while the teacher did the same, adjusting his black-rimmed glasses. "Uh…" The teacher mumbled and Howard got the feeling that he would thoroughly _enjoy_ Tony's first day of school. This idea was proven in Tony's next class. "Uh, but when it comes to super conducting transition temperatures, that's where the physics of solid state matter…" The teacher was in the middle of a lecture and Tony was apparently paying little attention as he flipped through the pages of his textbook. "Professor?" Tony called lifting the book with one hand and pointing at it with the other, "Do you have any other physics books? This one seems a little… out of date." Howard immediately started laughing while the other students exchanged disbelieving glances and Rhodey scooted his seat farther away from Tony's.

A few classes later, Howard was enjoying listening to Tony teach a class _on his first day of school_. "Then the energy pulse gives the system a simultaneous gives the system a positive and negative charge," Tony explained while finishing up the complex diagram and equation he had drawn on the whiteboard, "which allows the generation of, well… I named it a Stark **(charge/chart? I have nooo idea what he says here and for the life of me I can ****not**** find it **_**anywhere**_**, sorry.)**" Howard turned to look at the white-haired Professor who was sitting on one of the desks, looking lost. "Do you think there is any way that you could uh, go over that again?" The professor asked, and Howard grinned. "I should've sent him to school earlier and had an invisible camera following him around. This is _priceless_." Present-day Rhodey groaned, "Glad you enjoyed it."

Howard followed Tony out of the classroom until they caught up with memory Rhodey and couldn't help but smile when Tony asked, "What do we have now? This is kind of fun." Rhodey turned to face him. "Well, I've got English Lit., and you've got a free period. So, just hang out, relax. Check out the rooftop. A few of us have lunch up there. And I'll pick you up after class." Howard felt his spirits drop as a faint expression of unhappiness crossed Tony's face. It was painfully obvious that school was a great distraction for Tony, and a free period was not going to help. "Yeah, okay. See you later." Tony replied as the hallway emptied. "Couldn't seem to get away from their fast enough, Rhodey." Present-day Pepper commented jokingly. "What can I say? You saw what I'd been put through." Rhodey replied as they followed Tony out to the rooftop.

Tony stopped at the edge barrier, staring out of the rooftops in the direction of Stark International, his hands in his pockets. Tony's expression remained mostly blank, but Howard watched his eyes and felt a pang a fear as Tony shut them and he knew _without a doubt_ that Tony was relieving _that_ day. The day of the crash. A familiar voice cut straight through both Howard and Tony's thoughts and his son's eyes snapped open. "You're dad used to work there." Pepper Potts said from her position to the side of Tony and above his head sitting on a raised metal rack. She held her lunch- a sandwich- in hand and was swinging her crossed feet ever so slightly. "You're Tony Stark. I mean, Anthony Edward Stark. You worked there too, 'cause you _never_ went to school before. Privately tutored after your mom… uh…" Memory Pepper trailed off and looked away with a nervous laugh. "Never mind." She took a bite of her sandwich. "You live with James Rhodes' family, they're you're legal guardians now, and you have like a _billion_ patents on file. And you were missing for a week after the plane crash. How _do_ you survive a plane crash anyway?" Tony had turned away from Pepper again and his eyes widened slightly at her question. "I- uh," He struggled for words, "just lucky, I guess. How do you know all this stuff?" Tony asked, turning back towards Pepper, who glanced at the sky, smiling slightly. "My dad's on the FBI task force that's investigating Obadiah Stane after your dad's, you know, 'accident'," Pepper air-quoted the word accident. Great, now his "death" was a murder mystery. "He had the most to gain from your dad's death." Pepper continued and Tony's eyes narrowed suddenly before he looked up at Pepper in shock, his eyes wide and his mouth slightly open. "Hi, my name's Pepper Potts by the way." Howard swore he could hear dramatic mystery music.

The memory faded out with those words and reappeared with all three viewers suddenly being forced to join memory Rhodey in chasing down Tony as he sprinted toward a nearby building. "Tony, will you wait up?" Memory Rhodey called from behind them as he stopped for breath. "No." Present-day Rhodey answered the question as they followed Tony into the building. "Wait, where're you going?" Memory Rhodey called, his voice nearly drowned out by the sound of a metal door opening. "I've never been in this wing before." They heard memory Rhodey say, "My parents maintain this compound for your dad, but they never let me in. Tony?" Howard watched as Tony pushed a button and the disguised door lifted open to grant them entrance.

Howard was startled, mildly put, to see how quickly Tony had put together a new lab. Above his head a familiar ring of numbered doors were marked on a revolving wall. The machine used to remove the hidden armor sets was sitting straight across from them as Tony walked over to the computer that was the length of the _wall_ and leaned against the flat counter that also doubled as the keyboard. A few work stations were set up, as well as the "chair" used to interact with the Iron Man armor remotely, although it was unfinished. "This is the lab you've been _'fixing up'_?!" Rhodey exclaimed, summarizing Howard's thoughts accurately. "Yep." Tony replied, a slight smirk on his face. Memory Rhodey was stunned and boy did he _know_ it. Howard nearly laughed. "Ok-ay. T-t-Tony, you have to take everything Pepper says with a grain of salt, man. I mean, she's a bit on the crazy side!" Memory Rhodey managed to say. Present-day Pepper instantly wacked present-day Rhodey upside the head, "And what is _that_ supposed to mean?" Rhodey was crouched down on his ankles, holding the back of his head. "Nothing, Pepper, nothing! I swear! I just didn't know you so well, promise!" Rhodey jumped to his own defense.

"Crazy or not, I think she's right." Tony replied to memory Rhodey. "Thank you!" Pepper exclaimed, taking her attention away from present-day Rhodey. Tony reached down and tapped a few buttons on the touch-keyboard. The walls above their head spun and clicked into place before the machine lowered and opened to reveal the Mark I suit. "And I know how I can find out the truth." Tony continued. "So what're you going to do with this? Beat Stane up?" Rhodey asked disbelievingly. "Yes. That's exactly what I'm gonna do. Beat the truth out of him." Tony replied seriously, but Howard's trained ear could hear the sarcasm dripping in every word. "Really?" Rhodey asked, interested. "No, not really." Tony replied, rolling his eyes. "The armor has surveillance systems on board. I can use them to spy on Stane and see if I can find out anything. Sucker." Tony added with an amused look at Rhodey. Tony grabbed Rhodey's arm as he started to push him away and the two wrestled for about half a second before an alarm went off and Tony started coughing to Howard's immense alarm. Tony put a hand on his heart monitor, breathing hard for a minute. "Tony!" Rhodey exclaimed, "I'm sorry. Are you… are you okay?" Tony looked up and brought up his left arm to look at his watch, which promptly spun on his wrist to reveal a small red button. "Yeah, I'm fine. It's just a reminder alarm. I've got to recharge in an hour or so."

Howard froze. _"I've got to recharge in an hour or so." _His son had to _recharge his heart_ every once in a while to keep on _living_. He was now royally pissed. No, beyond that. He kind of wanted to smash Gene's head in for _doing this to his son_. Tony's life was now ruled by a mechanical heart that kept him alive, but only if he remembered to recharge it. Only if, while being Iron Man, he didn't slip up and consume too much power. And now he was mad at Tony for _taking that risk_, and again at Gene for _making him take that risk_. He barely heard memory Rhodey's next words.

"This is a bad idea, Tony," Rhodey said as Tony pushed the red button, "for about a billion reasons. You're still hurt. If you don't recharge the implant in your heart it's all over." Rhodey paced as Tony continued messing with the machine and armor. "I'm fine, mom." Rhodey narrowed his eyes and spoke over the sounds over the armor turning on a clicking to life. "Fine, except for an implant in your _heart_. If you exert yourself in the armor, or if the armor loses power, or… or if you're hit by lightning- I don't know what- but your heart will give out." Tony turned around, "I've _got_ to do this, Rhodey. For my dad. I couldn't save him, but I can stop Stane. I can save everything my dad built."

Howard's building anger and worry vanished on the spot. He had absolutely nothing left in him except for immense guilt- not that it was quite his fault he was being held captive, but maybe he should have tried _harder_ to get away. Tony obviously deserved that. Tony was putting his very life at risk for _Howard's life work_. Not his life, but his life work. He apparently owed Tony more than he thought, but that didn't stop him from wishing the Tony had found another way. One that _didn't_ put his life in danger.

They watched as Tony put on the armor for the first time, Howard with some pride and fear, and began the exit out of the compound. "Uh, how far away can we be from Tony?" Present-day Rhodey asked and a strange look came over Pepper's face. "The max is twenty-five feet I think." Howard replied. "And what happens if we get farther than that?" Howard shook his head, "We can't. The memory will drag us along, even if it's through the air, at the same pace as Tony until we're next to him and then it will work to keep us within the distance of fifteen feet." Howard closed his mouth at the same time that he realized _exactly _what Rhodey and Pepper were asking about and that Iron Man was already being launched through the tunnel and the ground slipped away beneath his feet and he was launched through the air and _straight through the ceiling_ until all three of them were outside, hovering in the air as the memory pulled the along through the air with Tony. Howard looked down. This felt _a lot_ different without borrowing one of Tony's suits, and apparently Rhodey and Pepper felt the same.

Tony let out a cheer as they followed him along, thoroughly enjoying flying the Mark I. _"Hello? Can you hear me? Tony?" _Memory Rhodey's voice echoed all around them through the com link. "Rhodey, you have _got_ to try this. Are you getting my feed?" Tony started to say, and grunted as he accidently collided with a building, and at the sight of that they all laughed. "We'll have to upgrade your system. And this is incredible!" Tony exclaimed as he adjusted his flight path. _"Uh, you know you're gonna hit that building, right?" _Memory Rhodey asked. "Uh, uh, yeah. I should turn." Tony replied and turned just in the nick of time, yelping slightly as the repulsors responded. After a near hit with the street and yet _another_ close-call correction they were back in the sky. "Okay, okay. I got it now. I never really had the chance to actually, you know, _use_ the suit before." Tony said. _"Uh-huh. You're not exactly filling with confidence here." _Memory Rhodey replied as Tony came to a hovering stop outside the window of Stane's office. "I'm hacking into the Stark mainframe through the satellite feed. Should be easy. I designed half of it. I'm downloading all of Stane's records just prior to the jet crash." Tony said and Howard wasn't too sure how to respond to any of that. Was it great that Tony was capable to hack into Stark International… or bad that he could and was… but given the circumstances…? Howard decided to _stop_ thinking. _"Yeah, I see them." _Memory Rhodey replied. "Wait, what?" Tony exclaimed suddenly, catching Howard's attention again. "That's… that unbelievable…! Stane did it! Stane turned my dad's Earth Mover into a weapon. And my laser system!" Howard sighed; if he didn't know better he would say that Obadiah was _trying _to get Tony to hate him. And succeeding.

"_Tony. Tony, are you seeing this? Stark security is receiving an alarm. There's a train that's gone out of control."_ Memory Rhodey's worried voice echoed over the com link. "Hang on." Tony replied distractedly. "Stane's sending out a live satellite transmission. Rhodey, I think he's trying to sell the Earth Movers." Memory Rhodey finally caught his attention with his next sentence. _"Tony, something's wrong! The train is speeding up! And it's been rerouted off the private Stark tracks! It's going to crash into Stark Tower!" _Memory Rhodey warned. "Hang on, I- what?! There's hundreds of people inside there! It'll hit the building's power generators. The entire building could-! I have to stop it." They followed Tony as he sped the armor along the tracks, abandoning his eavesdropping on Stane. "I can do this. I just have to switch the track, right?" Tony asked as he slowed to a stop, grunting slightly as he struggled to get used to the motions of the armor. _"You still have to slow it down. Let me see if I can find a map or something."_ Memory Rhodey replied as Tony stumbled to a stop, ending up kneeling and using his enhanced strength to bring his movement to a stop. "I'm connected to the city's mainframe. Department of Transportation. The track switches aren't responding… that's weird." Tony commented to himself. _"Tony, where's the train?" _Memory Rhodey asked and Tony looked away from the track switches and down the line… straight to a fast approaching white train. Howard felt a bolt of panic and immediately returned his gaze to Tony, wondering what he would do. Well, he knew how this ended- he _had_ read the newspaper after all- but he was afraid of _how _it got there.

"Oh, nuts. Hang on! I'm accessing the track's schematics on file." They waited a moment while Tony sifted through the data . "Got it." Tony said quickly and raised his hand to start the familiar sound of a repulsor blast. The blast knocked out the black wire box that controlled the lock and a rapid beeping alerted them of the now unlocked track. Tony quickly leveled himself with the track and found some footing before pushing the section of the unlocked track to connect with the one next to it, a heavy clunk resounding in their ears signaling that he succeeded. Tony ducked out of the way just as the train sped by. "Crisis averted."

"_Dude, what did you do?"_ Memory Rhodey panicked over the com link. "I switched the train to a different track." Tony replied calmly. _"That line only goes to Stark Tower. The track you switched it to- it's not finished! Instead of crashing into Stark Tower, it's going to crash into the middle of the city!" _Memory Rhodey half-shouted. Howard blinked, so _that's_ what happened. "Oops." Tony said, looking up and taking off again. He pulled up next to the train, dodging over a sign, and kept pace with it for a moment. "Come on, come on, think!" Howard heard him say before increasing his speed and making a much smoother landing down the line. _Oh, he didn't. _Howard thought briefly before his suspicions were confirmed. Tony reached forward and took the impact as the train slammed into him as he poured all his strength into pushing in back. _"Medical alert in progress. Cardio implant energy levels are depleted. Switching to reserve." _The computer's voice echoed around them and Howard felt the urge to hit both Gene and Tony over the head. Tony struggled to push back against the train, the effort obviously taking its toll on him. _"Tony! Your heart needs to be recharged. You've got to stop!" _Rhodey's worried voice came over the com link. "I can't." Came the expected reply to Howard's frustration. "Too many lives. Won't stop." The next second the door gave way instead. Howard actually blamed it for not breaking sooner. "Never mind." Tony said, groaning slightly after his impact with the opposite door.

A moment later Tony kicked off the now dented door and used his repulsors to blast apart the connector to the other cars and they all screeched to a stop. Unfortunately, this was a little too late, and only a few seconds later the front car- which Tony was pulling on with all his might- went straight over the edge of the unfinished tracks. Tony let go seconds later and place himself between the falling train car and the screaming people to catch the car on his shoulders- to the civilians' extreme amazement. Howard immediately recognized the scene as the same one in the photo on the newspaper the day Iron Man became part of the world- the day he had discovered what his son had been so eager to show him. Howard breathed a mixed sigh of relief and _did not relax for a second_ until they had reached the lab again and Tony was charging his heart.

"_Charging in progress." _The computer informed them as Tony placed one hand on the flat counted and another held the charger to his chest. He was still wearing the armor, but Rhodey was now holding the helmet. "Piece of cake." Tony said, turning his head to look at Rhodey. Howard set his teeth angrily, wincing as the sharp edges dragged against each other. _Piece of cake _nothing, in his opinion. "It's already all over the news!" Memory Rhodey replied excitedly. "About a thousand people have footage of you on their cell phones! They're calling you Iron Man. Tony, you're a hero." Tony smiled as he removed the charger and turned to lean his back against the counter. His expression grew more serious. "My dad always wanted to use technology to help people- to save _lives_. And that's what I'm gonna do. That's what Iron Man will do. I'm gonna save Stark International from itself. And maybe along the way, I'll find out what happened to my dad."

And to that, Howard Stark had no response.

**Okaaay. This took **_**hours**_**. And lots of time watching episode 1. Good lord, I don't think I'll be able to do **_**more**_** than one episode per chapter if I keep this up. Yeesh. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. And I promise to do even better next time, maybe… unless I do worse. Oh boy. Thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**So, first and foremost: thank you, thank you, thank you all for the support- you have NO idea how much I appreciate it, and all the reviews totally made my day. So, I just want to say that I **_**do**_** plan on going through all of the episodes, but I may skip one or two of them and simply have their reactions be commented on in the beginning of the chapter about the episode following the one I skipped, **_**but**_** if you really wanted to read a chapter about the episode I skipped please message me or put it in the reviews and I will be sure to write that chapter and put it up just for you- promise, and no, it won't be inconvenient and no, I won't mind. And yes, there will be a nice chat between Howard and Tony once this is all over, but I'm still deciding on whether or not to write about Tony's "recovery process" after all of this. Oh, and I may or may not skip over certain scenes in some episodes that I don't find extremely important to include for the sake of my fingers. I kid you not when I say that chapter 2 was fifteen pages on a word document. Oh, and sorry for any grammatical errors or repeated words or phrases. (Anyone else see that I flipped the words "by" and "but" one time in both chapter 1 and 2? Oops…)**

**I have got to make these intros smaller… so anyway- read on!**

* * *

Howard sat back down on the non-existent "ground" for a moment, struggling to come to terms with everything he had just seen. "You alright, Mr. Stark?" Rhodey asked worriedly as Pepper crouched next to him. "Yes, I'm fine. Thank you, Rhodey. I'm just a little… _overwhelmed_." Howard reassured them and smiled at Pepper, who looked relieved. "I guess it _is_ quite a bit to take in. I mean, I can't even imagine what it must be like to see all of this. Seeing the crash again from Tony's point of view, discovering that what he considered his home had been taken away from him, that he was risking his life every day, and that he has a heart implant that keeps him alive…" Pepper trailed off quickly with a nervous chuckle and she quickly hopped to her feet. "Sorry." Howard shook his head and stood up as the next memory appeared too soon for his liking.

They were in the air again, staring down at the city below their unsupported feet. "This will never stop being freaky." Rhodey stated as the three of them turned their attention to the building in front of them. The building that was none other than Stark Tower. Tony was once again in the Iron Man armor, positioned just outside Stane's office window as he listened in to the conversation going on inside. The words echoed all around them through the armor link just as Rhodey's voice had.

"_They're calling him 'Iron Man'." _The first worker in a deep blue suit was saying, _"No one seems to know who, or what he is, or where he went. He disappeared after the incident." _The worker removed his gaze from the hologram that everyone in the room was looking at. It depicted the scene of Iron Man holding the train car over his shoulders- the same one on the newspapers. _"It's all over the news." _The worker in the black suit standing next to him spoke up, _"All over the news because he saved hundreds of lives stopping that runaway train. Including everyone that was in this building." _

"_I don't care who he is or what he did."_ Stane replied sharply, _"All I care about is what he's wearing. Imagine the possibilities." _Stane stood up and stretched out his arm so that the palm of his hand was half-an-inch from the glowing blue hologram. _"A flying, weapons-capable suit of armor. It would revolutionize warfare, and make us rich. I want our top engineers working on this." _Stane ordered. The two engineers in the room exchanged a glance. _"Uh, Mr. Stane,"_ The engineer with brown glasses began nervously, _"from everything we've seen, the Iron Man armor is more advanced than anything we're working on here." _The man next to him, fully covered in a white lab suit, spoke up. _"It's years, if not _decades_, ahead of current technology."_ Howard smirked, _that's my son._

"_What am I even paying you for?!" _Stane snapped out in return. _'Fine, then we get the armor and reverse engineer it."_ The worker who spoke first looked over at Stane worriedly, _"How're we even supposed to find him?"_ Stane took a few steps along the desk and looked like he was about to reply, but the second worker glanced out the window before Stane could say anything. _"Uh, sir? I think I know where he is." _The worker point up out the window and everyone else in the room turned to look. Stane took a few steps toward the window. _"He's listening to us. Tell me, Iron Man, are you interested in making a lot of money?" _Stane asked, and Howard felt a severe flash of irritation toward his old friend. "For what, giving you another invention to make into a weapon?" Howard snapped out, hating the very idea. Rhodey and Pepper both shot him shocked and uneasy glances at his outburst, and Howard quickly controlled his temper, wondering if he was overreacting because he was still stressed over Tony.

Tony had no time to respond as two news helicopters suddenly appeared and he cut his repulsor boots for a moment to drop beneath the copters before quickly taking off away from them. Howard glanced over his shoulder to see that the helicopters had quickly turned and were following them. He returned his attention to Tony, exasperated as he realized that no matter if he was Tony Stark or Iron Man his son would not be catching a break from the press. He noted with interest that his son was already remarkably better at piloting the Mark I, something that he found a strange sense of pride in. A moment later Tony turned his attention onto the camera man. "Okay, you wanna play? Let's go." Tony challenged and shot forward with a burst of speed.

Tony outpaced the copters quickly, but they stubbornly followed him as he glanced over his shoulder. Tony laughed, "Too slow." Tony stated happily, only to turn his head to see a helicopter coming around a building directly into his path. "Whoa!" Tony yelped and swung his legs forward and to slow himself just in the nick of time as he caught himself on the side of the oncoming helicopter and pushed it away from himself. "Are you nuts?" Tony snapped, "I could have flown right into you! Stop chasing me. Someone's gonna get hurt if you keep this up." Tony warned as the three copters circled around him. _"He's hacked into our radio frequency!" _One camera man commented. _"Iron Man! Do you have a statement for the public?" _A female reported quickly asked. "Yeah. I've got boot jets, and you don't." Tony replied as he took off straight upward and arced over the city away from the news copters.

The memory went dark with a crack like thunder as Tony accelerated and was quickly replaced with the sound of memory Rhodey's voice. "You're stressing me out, Tony." He was saying as the lab machine returned the Mark I to its assigned wall slot. "Try racing helicopters before breakfast." Tony replied as he finished his drink of soda. "Now that's stressful." Tony joked as he took another sip. "Seriously, man!" Rhodey replied, "It's getting hard to cover for you with my mom! I-" Rhodey stopped short and looked over at Tony in surprise. "_What?!_ Racing helicopters?! Ugh. I'm not gonna see you on the news again, am I?" Tony screwed the cap onto his bottle of soda and placed his hand on Rhodey's shoulder with a serious expression on his face. "Not if you don't watch it." He replied and Howard cracked a smile.

A moment later the two of them were walking out of the compound the armory was hidden in. "This armor is seriously _incredible_!" Tony was saying, "I may have out-geniused myself!" Tony celebrated, "You should take it out for a spin." Tony said with a glance at Rhodey. "No! That's not the point." Rhodey began and they both stopped walking as Tony turned to face memory Rhodey. "The point is I- you… you can't- that's just... maybe." The memory faded out as both Howard and Pepper chuckled at the expression on memory Rhodey's face. "Stop it!" Present-day Rhodey snapped in embarrassment. "How did you want me to react? It was all so new!" Howard and Pepper just exchanged an amused glance and turned their attention to the new memory.

Tony and Rhodey were walking down the hall, expectant smiles on their faces. "Iron Man's awesome!" Howard heard a nearby student answered and Tony and memory Rhodey laughed and high-fived. Howard grinned; it _was_ his son's invention, after all. Rhodey reached into his locker and swiped the books he would need, looking over at Tony, who was leaning casually against the metal wall of lockers. "Don't you need to get your books?" Rhodey asked. "I memorized them." Tony answered. "I hate you." Rhodey replied as he pulled his satchel over his shoulder. Tony ignored the comment. "I want to head back to Stark Tower; try to get more dirt on Stane. We know the Earth Movers are being weaponized- we just have to figure out a way to stop it."

"It's a military experiment." Pepper's voice caused both boys to jump and turn around. "Wah! Pepper! What're you talking about?" Rhodey asked as he glanced over at Tony. "Iron Man!" Pepper replied immediately, "Isn't he great? Anyway, my dad told me in _strictest _confidence that the FBI thinks that Iron Man is part of a military experiment. Oh, red is my _favorite _color." Pepper continued, clasping her hands together as she mentioned her favorite color. The sound of a locker being slammed shut caught Howard's attention and he turned to see a tall jock in a green basketball uniform with the white number eight on it walking toward them. "Whoa! You've got it _aaalll _wrong, Pepper. Everyone knows the truth about Iron Man. He's… a robot." The jock whispered like it was a secret. "Some kind of advanced A.I.- from the future." Howard chuckled at the jock's words and the relieved and bemused expressions on Tony and Rhodey's faces. Rhodey sighed, "Do you even know what 'A.I.' stands for?" The jock paused, "Yeah, I do." He paused again before leaning down, an annoyed look on his face. "Shut up!" He said and walked away. "Happy Hogan- _not _the next Einstein." Memory Rhodey commented in amusement. "Now," Pepper began, "what were you guys saying about getting dirt on Obadiah Stane?" Tony and Rhodey exchanged a glance and all three of them went to the rooftop as Tony explained the situation, although leaving out that he was Iron Man to Howard's mild surprise and un-surprise.

"That totally stinks!" Pepper exclaimed, "I mean, you invent all this great stuff, and now Stane is selling it off as weapons?! That's horrible!" Pepper paused, "Not… illegal, mind you… but still: horrible." Pepper took a sip of her drink. "I-" Tony began, but Pepper cut him off with an outstretched hand. "But if you _invented _all this stuff, you can _uninvent _it! Here's what we do: break into Stark International!" Tony was now listening _very intently_ to Pepper's words. "Tony can override the security systems, Rhodey… you're on lookout, I'll take out the nightshift guards while Tony finds everything he's invented and sets it to blow!" Pepper exclaimed. "_Really_?!" Tony asked excitedly. Pepper laughed, "No. We'd seriously go to jail." Howard nodded, feeling almost as disappointed as Tony looked. "I just… wanted to be positive." Pepper explained, "There's really… nothing you can do." Pepper's voice turned apologetic. "You can stop cheering Tony up now, Pepper. Thanks." Rhodey said sarcastically.

Memory Pepper looked up and pointed at the sky. "So... this super laser thingy you invented, did it look like a big giant metal monster? About uh… ten stories tall?" Pepper asked and both Rhodey and Tony turned to look at what she was pointing at. Above their heads, two helicopters carried one of the Earth Movers, now painted black and yellow, through the air over the school. Tony let out a short breath of surprise. "Guess so." Pepper muttered.

The memory was quickly replaced by another and suddenly they were flying over the city with Iron Man, fast approaching the sight of an Earth Mover in motion. The sounds of explosions reached their ears. "It's a demo." Howard said through clenched teeth. "He's trying to sell the weaponized Earth Movers." He felt a spark of anger at Obadiah. Stane had successfully turned an invention intended to help people into one that would hurt them, and Howard was _not _happy about it.

"_Tony? Tony, are you there?" _Memory Rhodey's voice sounded over the com link. "Rhodey, I won't lie to you. I'm not in the bathroom." Tony replied with false seriousness. _"No kidding. You went after the Earth Mover, didn't you?" _Rhodey asked. "Maybe." Tony answered. "I'm patching you in to the testing ground security systems now. See if you can see anything." Tony said as he circled around an Earth Mover. _"Hang on, it's coming up." _Rhodey replied. "I'm gonna check it out." Tony informed memory Rhodey. _"Tony! No, wait! They're watching you!" _Memory Rhodey warned him. "Huh?" Tony turned around to see the control room with Obadiah Stane watching him out the window. A moment later, he turned back around too late to the sound of the Earth Mover firing a laser at him, which blasted Tony back painfully. Tony stumbled to his feet as the Earth Mover walked toward him. "_Really_?" Tony asked sarcastically and looked up to see one of the Earth Mover's "feet" coming down on him. "Oh boy." A large cloud of dust blocked Tony from their view for a moment, but he reappeared as he pushed the Earth Mover's "foot" off of himself and quickly shot out from underneath it. _"Tony, are you okay?" _Memory Rhodey asked immediately. "I-it… that thing tried to kill me!" Tony struggled to reply for a moment, his voice laced with mild pain that went away quickly. Howard narrowed his eyes angrily. Knowing it or not, Stane had ordered that Earth Mover to attack and kill Iron Man- and thus his son. He momentarily wondered if it was _good _that Stane was in a coma right now, but he quickly crossed the thought off- shuddering at how dark it had been. No, instead he hoped Tony blasted the Earth Movers to pieces so they couldn't hurt anyone else. At least his son was protected by his armor- others would not be so lucky.

Tony had gone straight up and was now stationary in the air just above the Earth Mover. _"Just get out of there. Now!" _Memory Rhodey said. "I… no. I can't." Tony replied and Howard struggled between being angry at his stubborn son who was risking his life and proud that Tony was trying to stop the Earth Movers. "Pepper was right. I invented those lasers, I can uninvent them. By blasting them apart. I can do this Rhodey, no problem." Present-day Pepper brought one hand to her head, "Maybe I should _stop _giving him ideas." Present-day Rhodey looked over at her, "Not sure it would make a difference."

Howard tuned out their conversation to focus on Tony, who was swooping low through the air and they both noticed the large doors on the ground marked four and three in large yellow numbers painted on the metal opening to reveal two more Earth Movers being lifted on to the testing grounds. Howard groaned as Tony came to a stop and looked down on the opening doors. "Yeah, okay. Now that's a problem." Tony commented in worry. A moment later all three Earth Movers shot lasers at him and Tony responded quickly by activating his full-body shield. Immediately, alarms rang in the armor. _"Alert: energy shields critical." _The computer warned. _"Tony! Get out of there. Move!"_ Rhodey shouted over the com link. "I can't! They're everywhere." Tony replied. _"Cut your boot jets. Do it now!" _Rhodey instructed and Tony quickly complied, dropping harmlessly under the lasers.

Howard watched with increasing worry as Tony rapidly dodged the next attacks. _"One's coming up on your left, watch it!" _Rhodey warned. "They keep shooting at me!" Tony replied, sounding like he was mildly complaining. _"Well shoot back!" _Rhodey responded in exasperation. "Oh, right." Tony said blankly, shooting his own repulsor blasts back at the Earth Movers while dodging further lasers. _"Watch the other one! They're coming around! Got one at 10 o'clock! Wa-!" _Memory Rhodey's voice suddenly cut short. Howard turned to look at the present-day one. "What just...?" Howard began, but trailed off to see Rhodey glaring at Pepper. "She walking into the room out of the blue and surprised me." Rhodey explained and Pepper chuckled guiltily, shrugging. Howard shook his head and returned his gaze to the memory in front of him.

"Uh, Rhodey? A little help here?" Tony said as he dodged another attack and ran smack into a laser. "Ah!" Tony immediately turned and jetted across the clearing close to the ground- outpacing several more continuous attacks. He swooped up and came fairly even with the middle of one of the Earth Movers where bright white strands of electricity were flickering and zapping within a large gap between two metal rings. "What?" Tony said, sounding caught off-guard. "Oh no. Oh no, no, no!" Tony snapped out, "You unbelievable _idiot_! What did you _do_?!" Howard examined the set up Tony was looking at and very quickly agreed with his son. At the moment, Obadiah Stane was definitely an "unbelievable idiot." Howard felt another flash of irritation and anger. If you _were _going to make a weapon, at least make sure it won't _explode_ and kill innocent people nearby.

"Rhodey? Rhodey, where are you? We've got a big problem here." Tony said as he sent a repulsor blast at the legs of one of the Earth Movers. He sent out a few more blasts and dodged another array of attacks as he waited for a reply, Howard could tell he was trying to think of a way out of this mess. After another rapid-fire exchange of attacks, Tony barely slipped past another laser from the side. "Rhodey!" Tony shouted. _"Tony, I'm back!" _Rhodey finally answered as the first Earth Mover had its legs finally break and it dropped to the ground. _"Pepper says hi." _Rhodey explained. "_Back_? Why're you-?" Tony began, sounding annoyed, but stopped as he dogged two more laser attacks. "Never mind. We've got bigger problems. Things are about to go _'boom'_ unless I can shut down these laser arrays." Tony replied. _"Boom? What'd you mean 'boom'?!" _Memory Rhodey asked, sounding panicked. "Boom. As in all of upstate New York." Tony responded. _"Oh.__ Boom."_

"_Tony. There's something going on. Someone else is there!" _Rhodey's tone caught Howard's attention, but the present-day one offered no explanations this time around. "Hang on." Tony responded, "I think I can stop the laser from going nuclear." _"How?"_ Rhodey asked immediately. "I'll let you know when I'm done. Unless I blow up." Tony answered as he started toward the closest Earth Mover. "What?!" Howard exclaimed, suddenly extremely nervous and fearful. Stubborn nothing! His son was starting to act near-suicidal, in his opinion.

"Here we go." Tony muttered to himself as he dove toward the laser area reactor that was currently overloading. Tony had barely gotten near it before it shot him backwards into the inner side of the Earth Mover, but Tony bounced right off the wall and straight into the strands of out-of-control electricity. Howard froze, staring in horror and unable to think straight. This was both extremely intelligent and _incredibly dumb _at the same time. Why, _why_, did it seem like Tony was going to make a habit of doing this?

Howard felt like covering his ears as Tony yelled out and groaned as the unstable electric strands collided with the armor as he rose to his feet. The armor absorbed the excess energy from the Earth Mover as the other ten-story tall weapon aligned itself with Tony. _"Power system overload. Energy release required." _The computer informed them. Oh, he was going to knock some sense into Tony once he got out of here. A moment later, Tony hovered slightly over the laser array, now shut down from power loss, and fired a massive unibeam from the circle on the chest of his armor straight into the Earth Mover across from him. The Earth Mover immediately broke and collapsed, the damage causing it to lose power.

"Not too bad, if I do say so-" Tony began as he walked away from the wreckage, but he was cut off by a bright, swirling white light sphere popping into existence rapidly in front of him as the wind knocked Tony backwards. _"Tony? What was that? All your systems just went down! Your heart implant is on backup! Tony! Can you hear me?! Tony, if you can hear me, I'm going to try to start the re-boot sequence." _Rhodey's worried voice came rapidly over the com link as Howard turned to see the familiar form of the Mandarin approaching Iron Man. "The Iron Man. How… unimpressive." Howard grit his teeth as he recognized Gene's disguised voice. "Sorry, have we met?" Tony replied, the visors over his eyes sliding open. "All who defy the Mandarin will be _destroyed_." The Mandarin responded evenly. "Good to know." Tony commented sarcastically and Howard smiled slightly at that little act of defiance. "Such arrogance. Let those be the last words you ever utter." The Mandarin replied and Howard caught sight of his green Makluan ring on Gene's extended hand. "So _this_ was when he got the second ring." Howard muttered aloud and Pepper and Rhodey immediately turned to look at Gene's hand, both of their eyes narrowing as they caught sight of it. _"Reboot complete." _The computer announced and Tony immediately sat up and repulsor blasted the Mandarin away from himself. "Where did you get those rings?" Tony practically growled out at the Mandarin. Gene responded by activating the first ring and creating a rapidly expanding sphere around himself while Tony charged. "Who are you?!" Tony shouted angrily, but was again blasted backwards into one of the Earth Movers. Howard winced and glared at Gene. Not only was he hurting his son, but Tony's heart implant was on back up. This was the _last_ thing Tony needed to be dealing with right now. _"Tony? Tony, are you okay? Tony?!" _Rhodey asked worriedly over the com link. "Uh, yeah. I'm here." Tony managed to say as he landed on his feet on the ground. _"Oh, you're alive." _Rhodey replied in relief. "Hurray for me." Tony pretended to cheer, sounding sore and tired as he walked away from the Earth Mover wreckage.

"Iron Man." Stane's voice pulled Howard's attention and he turned his head to see Obadiah approaching Tony. Howard frowned. If the rest of the memories were of Tony dealing with things like this constantly he was about to have the worst eight-and-half hours of his life. Howard prayed that Tony had caught a break every once in a while. "You don't want me as an enemy." Stane told Iron Man, dragging Howard out of his thoughts as he felt another flash of irritation. _No wonder_ Tony, Rhodey, and Pepper didn't like Stane all that much- he didn't exactly give off the best impressions. "I'll ask you one last time. Work for me." Stane continued. Tony turned away slightly and Howard heard the sound of the repulsor-powered jet boots starting up. "Never." Tony replied and took off in a cloud of dust. Rhodey and Pepper laughed at Stane's infuriated expression as the memory faded out, and Howard cracked a small smile. Yup. Tony was just that stubborn.

A minute later- after his emotional levels had finally returned to a fairly even state and his pulse had slowed- the next memory popped into existence. Rhodey was walking into the lab, already speaking. "You almost died, man. We _all _almost died because of Stane. You saved millions of lives, Tony. Think about it. This is serious." Memory Rhodey placed a hand on Tony's shoulder as Tony looked at the Mark I armor, his stance a little tense. "The man in black," Tony responded quietly, "the Mandarin… he had my father's Makluan ring. What he did- the energy he produced- I don't know how to explain it. My dad was right, Rhodey. These rings- what if they are some form of technology? And this 'Mandarin' had _another_ one." Tony's tone was subdued, and his expression tense and uncertain.

Howard frowned as the memory faded out. "So that was when you first met Gene." Howard stated. "No," Rhodey replied coldly, "that was when we first met the Mandarin." Pepper sighed, "At least he's not still trying to take over the world… at the moment." Howard watched the two teens, wondering just what had happened to make the topic of Gene so uncertain among the three iron pilots.

* * *

**Hey! This chapter took less time than the last one! Woot! Although I think it was because Tony wasn't in **_**every **_**scene in the episode this time. Hope you enjoyed! So, i will be putting up another chapter for the 3rd, but i'm writing it on the second. I'm posting all of these chapters early in the morning- i think i might have gotten myself on a nocturnal schedule- oops. But there won't be an update on the forth since the 3rd is my birthday. However, i will work on writing as many chapters as i can right after that since i'll only have a few free days after the 4th and then i'll be on a family trip, soooo i'm going to try to post enough chapters to tide you over. "try" keep in mind that the word is "try" XD. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**Alright. So. It's Sunday. **_**Again.**_** And I am just as pissed as the rest of you. I would totally tell you every reason of why I couldn't update. But life just freaking hated me and I'm sure you don't care **_**at all**_**. So I will settle with saying it was literally "once in a blue moon" stuff that I was just "wtf?!"-ing over all week long. I'm reeaally sorry, and I ****swear**** it **_**won't happen again**_** 'cause **_**forget life, I'll just write.**_** I actually overslept till about two on Saturday and then had to go to a movie (yes, I mean **_**had to**_**. It was an **_**order**_** from my parents), and then we went out to eat and to a couple stores for a **_**long time**_** (ridiculously bored and pissed off at this point), and then I had to take a shower and it was already late, and my parents take my electronics at about ten, so I was, to put I bluntly, screwed. **

**Disclaimer: **I do not own IMAA. *sigh*

* * *

Howard sighed and ran a hand over his face tiredly. He was already seeing what had caused the gaps in personality that he had noticed between present and past Tony. He was already seeing how his relaxed, sarcastic, genius, happy son had gone to the stressed, serious, and restless present-day Tony. No _wonder_ no one had ever told him anything. Judging from what he had just seen he was going to be watching a downhill slide for a _long_ while. Rhodey and Pepper both shot him sympathetic glances. At least _they _knew what was coming and could prepare themselves for it. Howard wasn't so lucky.

Howard forced himself to push those emotions aside for now as the next memory began to take shape. There would be time to worry and think about all of this later. Right now he needed to focus on watching these memories. Watching them so he could help Tony.

"What?!" Came the irritated snap of Gene's voice as he rounded a corner, but took a step back in surprise as he saw Tony standing in front of him. Howard had also taken a step back- surprised at the sudden appearance of the person who had held him captive for years. "Uh, hi. My name's Tony Stark." His son's voice shook him out of his thoughts and back into the memory. Said memory flickered a bit, skipping a short period of time through the conversation. Tony now had his back to Gene and was inspecting an intricately designed artifact carved into a dragon. "So you guys import Chinese art and antiquities here to the U.S? Like statues and relics 'n' stuff?" Tony asked the impatient looking Gene as he turned back around to face him, placing one hand behind his head. "Yes, _stuff_ is our specialty." Gene replied sarcastically. "Now what did you want to talk to my stepfather about?" Tony dropped his hand. "Right. Sorry. I'm looking for information on one of my dad's projects. These ancient Chinese artifacts called the Makluan rings." Tony explained, and even though Gene did a good job of not reacting to the topic, Howard could still see a spark of interest in his eyes. "Makluan rings?" Gene feigned ignorance. "Yeah, I've been going through all my dad's notes on the rings and Mr. Zhang's name came up in his dairy." Tony replied as he pulled his phone off of where he had clipped it on to his belt and held it out towards Gene. "I guess they talked a while back."

"Your dad keeps a diary." Gene stated, his tone flat like he was trying to keep from implying an insult. "Yeah, I know. He was kind of old school." Tony replied and Howard half-smiled at the Tony's familiar joking insult. Tony pushed a button and Howard watched as the digitized pages of his notes popped up. "I, uh, digitized it. It has everything he learned about the rings." Tony said as Gene leaned in for a closer look. "But he wrote that he wanted to follow up with your stepdad and ask him a few things about Chinese rings and similar artifacts." Gene looked up at Tony and leaned back. Howard felt a slight bit of satisfaction at the thought of Gene having the information he wanted just under his nose but not being able to get to it. "Zhang's out of the country on business and won't be back for a while, but… if you want to leave me a copy of the diary, I'll be sure to get it to him." Gene managed to reply and Howard chuckled as the teen looked away, trying to hide exactly how much he wanted those notes. "That's okay." Tony clicked off the hologram and placed his phone back onto his belt. "Just let him know I'd like to talk to him as soon as possible."

"Sure, but where can he find you?" Gene responded carefully after a brief moment and Howard glared at said teenager as he followed Gene's train of thought. _You'd better not have._ Howard thought angrily. "I wrote down my cell number," Tony held out a small white piece of paper with a number written on it in red ink, "but I'm in school during the week." Gene took the piece of paper, examining it as Tony turned and began to leave. "Do you go around here?" Gene asked. "The Tomorrow Academy on the east side." Tony replied. "No kidding," Gene faked a surprised tone, "that's where I'm enrolling." Howard snorted disbelievingly, "He really went that far?" Rhodey nodded. "Hey, he blew up and plane and kidnapped you didn't he?" Pepper replied absentmindedly, too focused on the memory to pay more than half attention to the conversation. "That's cool! We'll be classmates. Maybe I'll see you around." Tony responded with a half-shrug.

The memory faded out and was quickly replaced with the three viewers being placed inside the old armory as Tony came running in through the just opening door. "Hey, Rhodey! I went and saw-ah!" Tony stopped and leaned backwards in surprise as he saw his Mark I armor sprinting at him. He dove out of the way in the nick of time and they watched as the armor proceeded to bang its head into the door, then the ceiling, and then the keyboard counter- much to Howard's amusement and surprise- before slowly rising to its feet. Tony, now sitting on the floor, scrambled backwards with his hands and feet as the armor took a few rapid steps toward him and promptly fell down again, but this time on to Tony. "Rhodey! Rhodey!" Tony shouted to get the memory teenager's attention and Howard saw him maneuvering the now completed remote control "chair" for the Iron Man armor. "If you're mad at me about something we could just talk it out." Tony said with an annoyed look on his face as he struggled to get the now limp metal off of him. "Wha-! Sorry, man. I've been practicing with the remote controls for the armor." Rhodey replied apologetically. "You need more practice." Tony retorted as he turned to glare at the heavy armor he was supporting. Howard laughed- much to present-day Rhodey's embarrassment- along with Pepper at the whole scene, eagerly taking advantage of the light-hearted scene.

"So the stepson, he said this guy Zhang was out of the country. All the contacts in my dad's notes are turning up a big zero." Tony's voice rang out immediately as the memory changed rapidly. "So… you don't know what the rings _are_, or who the Mandarin _is_? Good start." Rhodey replied sarcastically. "I was never great at research. I always just invented everything I needed." Tony snapped back. "True, true. Although I suppose that would be my fault." Howard mused for a moment. "Hey, I hear scientists have invented these _amazing _things that tell you about ancient history. They're called books." Rhodey responded. Tony laughed and pretended to whack Rhodey. "I hate research."

The three viewers followed Tony and memory Rhodey into the school and Howard watched in near disbelief as Tony went into a library and checked out some books before heading to class. "…and that's why I wasn't very popular in the eighth grade. But no charges were filed, so everything turned out okay!" Pepper was saying as Tony dropped his books onto the desk and the stack promptly toppled over- the books sliding down the covers of the ones beneath them. "Uh, what's with all the books? I thought you didn't do the whole book thing." Memory Pepper asked, eyeing the pile. "Yeah," Tony said as he pulled his backpack off his shoulder, "I went to this crazy place called… called, uh…" Memory Rhodey looked exasperated, "The library?" He supplied. "That's the one!" Tony responded, a look of recognition popping up onto his face. Howard, Rhodey, and Pepper laughed. "I wonder if he still doesn't remember what it's called?" Pepper choked out between breaths. Rhodey and Howard grinned, exchanging an amused glance at the expense of Tony. "I'm doing research. Fun." Tony said with a fake look of enthusiasm as he gave to thumbs up. "Oo! On what?" Pepper asked immediately. Tony and memory Rhodey shared a dumbfounded glance. "Jewelry?" Tony supplied uncertainly, but was spared from any more questions by the professor walking in.

"Attention class. We have a new student joining us today, so everyone please welcome Gene Khan." The professor introduced Gene and immediately murmurs popped up around the room. Howard watched as Gene walked to the back of the classroom to sit next to Happy and look completely annoyed a few moments later about something Happy had shouted that Howard didn't quite catch. "Wait, that's the kid you were talking about?" memory Rhodey asked Tony, "The one from the import place? And he's going to school here?" Rhodey pointed down at the desk for emphasis. "Cool, huh?" Tony replied with a smile. "Gene Khan… why does that sound familiar?" Memory Pepper muttered as she looked over her shoulder at said Khan.

A short while later the three memory teens were standing outside of Rhodey's locker. "He seems kind of… like he's above all this. All smug and superior." Rhodey said as he placed a book inside his locker and shut the door. "He's got that arrogant rich kid vibe going on." The group of six turned at the sound of a locker opening to see Gene being hounded by Happy. "Yeah." Tony replied sarcastically, "Arrogant rich kids are the _worst_." Memory Rhodey frowned, glaring at him, while Howard chuckled with amusement. "You know what I mean, jerk." Rhodey responded, "Look, this is weird."

"I'm pretty sure I know something about him." Memory Pepper said as she put a hand to her chin in concentration, "I just can't remember _what_." Tony checked his watch, "Sorry, no time to gossip, girls. It's my free period and research calls." He held up a hand, glancing over his shoulder as he walked away. "Hey, Gene." Tony greeted him as he walked past. "Tony." Gene replied in kind. About twenty minutes later, Howard was standing up, utterly bored and wishing he could lean on something while he watched Tony translate some text, and also feeling a touch of warmth and pride that Tony was _researching_ the Makluan rings because _Howard_ had been and he thought it was important enough to carry on with- although, Howard supposed a random stranger using said rings to attack you was motivation enough. Tony wrote something else down on the sheet of paper he had been working on and all three viewers jerked as Gene's voice rang through the room and he was suddenly standing near Tony, examining a book. "Your last translation is incorrect." Tony looked up in surprise, "Huh?" Gene looked over at him, "The word you want is 'dread'." Tony turned his attention back to the page he had been translating, "Right. You're totally right! Thanks, Gene. I-" Tony began, only to stop in surprise when he realized that Gene was gone. "What the-?! Can he use his rings _without_ turning into a creepy dude in black armor or something? Or just teleportation?" Present-day Rhodey muttered in surprise while Howard just shook his head. Gene always _had _had a knack for disappearing.

Shortly after, the memory changed once again and they were standing outside the Tomorrow academy to see Tony and Pepper leaning against a brick wall while a police siren went off in the background. "Who says after class to debate with his history professor about _history_?" Tony said, gesturing with one hand for emphasis. "I mean, come on." Memory Pepper shrugged, "Rhodey loves history. Maybe he'll marry it. I don't know." Present-day Rhodey glared at the red-head, "What's that supposed to mean?!" He snapped, switching his glare to the memory Tony. Present-day Pepper shrugged like her past self, her expression neutral.

"Hey! There's Gene!" Memory Pepper pointed out, drawing present-day Rhodey's attention away from the two as the previously mentioned teenager walked past. "Oo! He's got a limo." Pepper glanced at Tony and placed a hand on his shoulder, "And you don't. Oh, you should come to school in _two_ limos tomorrow!" Pepper exclaimed. "Gene!" Tony called and jogged toward him, followed by Pepper. "Hey, thanks again for the help earlier." Gene shrugged, "No problem." Tony exchanged a glance with Pepper, "And, uh, actually I could use a lot more help." Gene, who had been messing with something inside the limo, paused and looked over his shoulder, "Uh, I'm really busy…" Gene began.

The loud sound of a shot being fired caught Tony's attention and Howard felt a flash of fear as Tony shouted, "Look out!" and tugged Gene out of the way as memory Pepper dove away from the limo. A black van screeched to a stop a short distance away from them and two men dressed in black suits and white masks- who Howard quickly recognized as the mafia- got out followed quickly by a tall man in a suit of armor that was colored swamp green and orange with a "horn" built into it on his forehead. Overhead, another man flew in a swamp green, black, and cream white suit with was looked like a pair of thin metal wings made of four bars built onto his back. The flying man landed next to the other one in the suit of armor. Howard studied the two for a moment and identified them as Killer Shrike and Unicorn from their descriptions and images in the enemy files on Tony's computer.

"Gene Khan. The Maggia would like a word with you about your stepfather." Killer Shrike said and both Tony and memory Pepper turned to look at Gene. A moment later, Howard wanted to snap something- or more accurately _someone_- in two as Gene, Pepper, and Tony were pushed unwillingly into the van by the Maggia members. "Tony! Pepper!" Howard heard memory Rhodey shout and turned his head to see the teen standing on the sidewalk with his phone an inch away from his ear, eyes wide in surprise. "Rhodey!" Pepper and Tony yelled simultaneously as the memory went dark.

A few agonizing moments later, the next memory appeared and Howard felt marginally better at the sight of all three teens sitting on some crates, unhurt, but surrounded. "Hey, watch it!" Memory Pepper snapped as someone pushed her to sit down next to Tony and Gene. "You guys are in _big_ trouble." Pepper informed the Maggia members irately. "Pepper." Tony warned tightly. "My dad? He's an FBI agent. You don't know who you're messing with here." Pepper continued and Tony placed a hand to his forehead and shook his head in exasperation. "_Pepper_!" Tony and Gene snapped simultaneously. "_What_?" Pepper replied. "Let's not antagonize the armed thugs, okay?" Tony said slowly, his voice tense.

A minute later Tony had his pod out, tapping some sort of sequence into the buttons. "Give me that!" A maggia member snarled out and snatched the pod from his hands. Howard felt his stomach drop at Tony's worried expression. "It's just an MP3 player." Tony said immediately, one hand extended and Killer Shrike landed a foot away from his. "Kid. You better shut up and cooperate if you wanna get out of this without suffering too much." Killer Shrike threatened. "You're supposed to say 'get out of this alive', nimrod! Get it right! Ugh, what kind of a name is 'Killer Shrike' anyway?" Pepper interrupted immediately. "Who are you people? What do you want with Gene?" Tony asked as both he and Killer Shrike ignored her comment. "Your buddy's dad is the head of the Tong. The Maggia's at war with the Tong. They're hitting our leaders, so we're hitting back." Killer Shrike explained, gesturing with one had towards Gene. "The Maggia's at war with the Tong. They're hitting our leaders, so we're hitting _back_."

"Oh!" Past Pepper's voice interrupted as she leaned over to look closer at Gene. "_That's_ where I knew you from. The FBI suspected Shin Zhang was connected to the Chinese criminal underworld!" She said excitedly. "What?" Tony said, his tone full of surprise. "That's _awesome_!" Pepper exclaimed as Gene jumped up from the crates and walked away. Pepper hopped up and followed him. "So, how long has your father been a crime lord?" She asked.

Rhodey frowned. "Pepper, were you _trying_ to make him mad?" He asked the present day red-head. Pepper smiled sheepishly, but didn't have to answer when Gene spoke up.

"What? My _stepfather _is a businessman. He's an importer- that's all. He works for museums not criminals." Gene snapped in reply. "What do you want? Money?" Gene asked in irritation as he turned to the maggia members. "Because my stepfather won't pay. This is the _fifth time _I've been kidnapped. He's more likely to sue you."

"I hate kids." Unicorn groaned. Howard turned his head when he heard Tony mutter something quietly, feeling tense even though he knew Tony came out of this fine.

Silence claimed the room when Gene sat back down and Pepper leaned against the crates next to him. A few minutes passed as the three looked around the room nervously. "We should try to escape." Pepper spoke up. "Gene, you should take the lead. Since your father's a violent criminal and all."

Howard sighed and prayed that Pepper never got herself kidnapped without someone else to keep her from doing something stupid.

"My _stepfather _is not a criminal!" Gene half-shouted in reply, his eyes narrowed angrily. "Gene, relax. No one thinks your dad is a criminal." Tony attempted to pacify the angry teen. "Um, except these criminals. Oh, and the FBI." Pepper replied.

"Pepper. I think we might actually need to teach you what to do if you're kidnapped again." Howard muttered in exasperation. The fiery red-head turned sharply to reply, but was cut short by Gene's outburst.

"Okay. One, it's _stepfather_- he's not my dad! And two, he's no gangster!" Gene snapped and stood up to face memory Pepper. "I know all about the FBI's investigation. And they came up with _nothing_. They dropped it. Know why? Because he's _not a criminal_!"

"Gene. I believe you. Everything's gonna be okay." Tony calmed the black-haired teenager. Gene and Pepper exchanged a puzzled glance. "My pod has a tracking device built into it. The police, the FBI, the Marines. _Someone _is going to come help us."

Past Pepper sat down next to him. "You're my hero, Tony. Oh, I hope it's the Marines." Pepper said, leaning closer and holding his arm happily. Howard raised an eyebrow, but stayed quiet as Rhodey opened his mouth and present-day Pepper shot him a death glare.

"Why do you have a…?" Gene asked. "You think you're the only one who's ever been kidnapped?" Tony responded.

Howard looked down. That was true. He remember the first time Tony had been taken. It had taken everyone about six hours to locate and take him back, and Howard had completely lost it. He had panicked and was running around making sure no one missed a thing the entire time. He'd never been gladder that Trish was his secretary than he had been that day. She was the only person who had managed to get him to calm down some and think straight. When Tony came home, Howard had refused to let his son out of his sight for a full week, and when he realized that he had to actually work, he had wanted someone to watch Tony so he couldn't be taken again. It didn't surprise him much that Tony had point blank refused, and Howard still hadn't figured out how Tony was able to calm him down to the point that he got away with that. He supposed it was just because Tony was safe and talking to him at that very moment. The second time, they had found him much faster, but Howard ignored Tony's protests and assigned two people to watch over Tony whenever he couldn't. To say that plan had failed was an understatement. Tony repeatedly found ways to get away from them and it wasn't until a few weeks later that Howard had realized that and reluctantly agreed that there was no point to continue having them watch Tony. The third time didn't even really count to a few people. The kidnappers had made the mistake of letting Tony move around and Howard's son had escaped before they had even reached their destination. By the time Tony came back, they had only been looking for twenty minutes. His son had disappeared in to his lab for a long time after that, which was nothing new, so Howard didn't question it, but he did order some of the guards to stay near the lab and let nothing get past them. When the fourth time came around and everyone was searching frantically again, Stark International was greeted with quite the surprise. Their systems had been altered and coordinates appeared on their screens, and although they couldn't see Tony, they could hear everything going on around him. When they got him back, Tony explained that he had placed a tracking device in his pod and connected it to Stark International's systems. The audio was picked up on his pod as well, so they could know what was happening. While it was never any less nerve racking for Howard when Tony went missing, he had at least realized that Tony could take care of himself.

He smiled to himself and looked back up to re-focus on the memory around him. The maggia member that was holding Tony's pod looked over, "Can, uh… can you get the game on this?" He asked. Tony smiled and walked over.

"Dude, I can get anything on that. Music, TV, movies, you name it." Tony said as he took the pod. "The pod uses _remote control_," the sides of the pod slid open, "to have my computer at home give me anything I _need _at any _location_." Tony continued as he put on the ear bud offered by the pod. Howard smiled as Tony pressed a button on the pod. Ever the genius son.

"It gets cable, too. Here, let me-" Tony was saying when a jet of light blasted the pod out of him hands. Tony covered his eyes as the light blinded him for a moment, and an expression of worry came over his face as he reached for the now-cracked pod on the ground. "Sit _down_!" Unicorn ordered as he picked up Tony by his shirt and threw him back toward the crates. Tony crashed in to the crates with a loud bang and Howard winced as anger flowed through his system. Unicorn had better pray that Howard didn't catch up with him someday. Tony ignored what Howard was sure was a very sore shoulder and sat up. "Well, this is a problem." Tony muttered as he looked at his pod.

Rhodey laughed, and present-day Pepper and Howard shot him confused and curious expressions. "I just remembered that when I was sitting in the armory trying to locate Tony and get the armor to him, and the pod signal disappeared, I said 'well, that's a problem'." Rhodey explained through his chuckles and Howard cracked a grin despite the tense situation.

A few more minutes passed and Tony stood up from his seat and walked over to Unicorn and Killer Shrike. Pepper ran after him with a worried expression. "I… have to go to the bathroom. I mean, I _really_ have to go."

"Too bad." Killer Shrike replied shortly.

"Uh, you should trust him on this." Pepper placed one hand on Tony's shoulder. "He uses the bathroom _a lot_. Like, seriously, all the time." Tony grinned sheepishly and clasped his hands behind his back with a nervous chuckle.

"There's no bathroom here, kid." Killer Shrike said.

"What?!" Pepper exclaimed. "There's one down that hall." She pointed with one finger. "Um, I can see it from here." Both Killer Shrike and Unicorn turned to look. "No, the other door." Pepper said as they looked.

"Unicorn, take the kid to the bathroom." Killer Shrike ordered gruffly.

"You have got to be kidding." Unicorn replied disbelievingly. Pepper hopped from foot to foot. "Oo. I have to go, too." Pepper offered. Unicorn sighed. "Whatever, just shut up." Pepper and Tony followed him down the hall and so did present-day Howard, Pepper, and Rhodey.

"I can't tell if that bathroom excuse he's so fond of is a curse or a blessing." Rhodey sighed and shook his head as Pepper nodded in agreement. Howard raised an eyebrow, an amused smile creeping over his lips, but remained silent.

The listened to Tony talk to Unicorn for a bit, feeling amused and worried as they watched the kidnapper's rising irritation level. "Look, just shut up, okay?!" Unicorn groaned out.

"Sorry, I'm just saying that much energy right by your brain can't be good. You get headaches?" Tony asked.

"I've got two right now!" Unicorn snapped. Silence fell over them for a moment.

"There's no way you're not going to jail after this. You know that, right?" Pepper started, "Or _worse_. Seriously, if the cops don't get you, the Tong will."

The group stopped by a door marked "WC" as Unicorn lifted one hand to his helmet like he was listening to something. Unicorn turned away and Tony held up his pod with a smile, letting Pepper know it was working again.

"All those times I wanted us to hang out, this is exactly what I meant." Pepper said as a small smile played over his lips and she crossed her arms and turned away slightly to hide it. "Let me guess, you think this is better." Tony whispered in reply, laughter hidden in his tone. "Yeah, way better!" Pepper replied excitedly. Howard was caught between exasperation and amusement. Being kidnapped by the Maggia was suddenly a _good_ thing? "Really, Pepper?" Present-day Rhodey asked, and Pepper replied with a smile and a whack to his arm.

"Punks. Today is my lucky day." Unicorn hissed as he turned around, an evil smile on his face. Pepper and Tony froze, watching the armored man nervously. A crash suddenly filled the quiet of the building as the sound of a stack of boxes shattering bounced off the walls. "What was-?" Unicorn began and Tony jumped on to a box and leapt at Unicorn, kicking him to the ground. Tony rolled away and Pepper helped him stand.

"Ow!" Tony groaned.

"Come on!" Pepper hurried and they took off running.

The two of them peeked around some boxes and were greeted with the sight of the Maggia members shooting at the Iron Man armor, with the bullets bouncing off harmlessly. Killer Shrike shot something that made the armor go flying backwards in to some more boxes for a moment.

"Gene!" Tony called as they spotted the other teen, "Gene, take Pepper. Get her out of here."

"What? What about you?" Pepper asked just as the Iron Man armor came flying out of the boxes and straight in to Tony, sending them both crashing in to more boxes farther away. Howard winced, but found the scene ridiculously hilarious.

"Problem solved." Rhodey answered past-Pepper's question. "You could have hurt him! What if he broke an arm, or a leg? Or damaged his heart monitor?!" Present-day Pepper yelled and hit Rhodey hard over the head. "But I didn't….?" Rhodey offered weakly and Howard took a half-step away from the angry red-head.

A muffled voice faintly reached their ears as Tony put on the suit and tossed a crate that was in his way towards the Maggia members, which they must have dodged because the sound of a crate smashing against the metal wall filled the air. "Attention criminals, you're toast." Tony announced as he came out of the pile of broken crates and landed with a flip.

"He's getting better at it." Howard remarked. "What?" Rhodey asked in confusion. "His insults, or threats." Howard clarified and Pepper nodded. "He learned."

"_Nice, you really put the fear into 'em. Oh, and Tony, welcome back."_ Rhodey's voice came over the com-link as the Maggia member started shooting. Tony responded by firing two repulsor beams at the Maggia members and taking off in flight after Killer Shrike while Unicorn shot at him from the ground below. Tony chased him for a minute before Killer Shrike landed on one of the overhead ceiling beams and rapidly shot at him. Tony effortlessly dodged the attack and landed as well. But he had forgotten about Unicorn, who had climbed a stack of boxes and grabbed his ankle. Tony let out a small gasp of surprise and Unicorn dragged him down and held his helmet to pull Tony close and shoot him point blank with a beam from the horn on his helmet.

Tony soared backwards and crashed through more crates, finally coming to a stop on a sturdier one. _"Tony, are you okay?"_ Rhodey asked. "Yeah. Agh." Tony replied as he rolled off the crate and held a hand to his head. "It's just, they're a little different than fighting robots. Uh-oh." Tony looked up, only to be blasted backwards in to the concrete wall by Unicorn.

Howard rubbed his shoulder and winced as he look at the size of the dent- no, crater- created by the impact in the wall. Tony had barely begun to sit up when Unicorn fired off another laser and walked closer to Tony. He picked Tony up by the front of the helmet and held him there for a bit. "I'm gonna use your head as a doorstop, Iron Man!" Unicorn threatened.

Howard raised an eyebrow and shivered. What was _wrong_ with him? Using someone's head as a _doorstop_? And when did he even come up with that? Did he just think about what he would use Iron Man's head for whenever he was bored or something? Present-day Rhodey had a similar reaction. "Okay, that, is just not right." Pepper didn't quite agree, "Okay, so _now_ he gets his threats right? And that's the best he can come up with? Lame!" Howard dropped his face in to his hands, sighing inwardly while Rhodey just rolled his eyes.

"That's just mean!" Tony responded to Unicorn and fired a Unibeam at him. "And dumb."

Unicorn smacked in to a metal support beam, denting and folding the metal. He struggled to stand up for a second, but went limp and passed out.

Tony took off towards Killer Shrike, dodging the shards of beams that were fired at him, and grabbed Killer Shrike around the middle before taking them both outside by breaking through the glass. Howard, Rhodey, and Pepper lurched some when an invisible force carried them up through the air and straight through the ceiling. "I don't think I'm going to get use to this." Pepper said as she looked down through the air towards the ground below. Rhodey nodded, but Howard was too focused on the fight to reply.

Howard practically growled in anger as Killer Shrike brought his hands up and slammed them down on to Tony's spine in an attempt to make Tony let go. Tony groaned and stopped, unfortunately allowing Killer Shrike to knee him in the stomach and push him away. Killer Shrike then attempted to fly a distance away, only to end up hitting his head on the metal bar on a tower on top of a nearby building. Tony caught up to him and grabbed his wrists, sending them both in to a wild flight that the three viewers were happy they didn't have to mimic and instead followed through the air calmly, if not slowly.

Killer Shrike managed to pull one of his wrists free and light it up with many of the shards he had been previously firing, which he proceeded to use to attempt to cut in to the Iron Man armor on the shoulder around the base of Tony's neck. "Ugh!" Tony struggled as Killer Shrike laughed and bolts of yellow energy raced around them like lighting. Warning bells rang in the armor.

"I don't know why you're here, Iron Man, but I'm going to enjoy taking you down." Killer Shrike said with an undertone of evil glee.

Tony lifted his head and reached up to grab both of Killer Shrike's hands. With a loud bang, Tony used two point blank repulsor blast to break the gauntlets on Killer Shrike's armor, and watched as he spiraled downward with smoke coming from the gauntlets. "Wait, your blasters helped you fly, too? That's a serious design flaw." Tony said in amusement as Killer Shrike crashed through the warehouse roof.

"_The police should be there any second. They've been getting calls ever since the shooting started."_ Rhodey's voice echoed over the com link as they began to hear sirens in the distance.

"I've got to get out of the armor and back down with Pepper and Gene before the suspect anything." Tony replied.

"_I'll pilot the armor back. After you say it. Say it!" _Rhodey ordered in teasing amusement.

"Huuhhh, thank you for saving us all, Rhodey. You're my hero." Tony answered with the tone of voice of a little boy doing a chore to keep his mother happy.

"_That's right I am!" _Rhodey's voice said as Tony descended to the ground and he climbed out of the armor. They followed Tony as he walked around the building and spotted Pepper and Gene by one of the cop cars.

"What haven't they found him?" Pepper's voice reached their ears as they neared the pair of teens. Killer Shrike and Unicorn both got away, and they haven't found Tony! What if they-?" Pepper's voice rose with worry and she place a hand to her head.

"Pepper," Gene interrupted her, "he's gonna be fine."

"Yeah." Tony said and both of them looked up in surprise. "But next time, I wanna be rescued by Cotton Ball Man. Iron hurts." He half-groaned as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Pepper dashed forward and hugged him, and Tony took a half-step back in surprise "Ohuh, Gene saved me! After you got saved, which was after you saved me before, you know, by the bathroom. But then I, sort of saved you." Pepper said while looking up at Tony.

Tony smiled and put an arm around Pepper's shoulders while she left one arm around his waist. Howard and Rhodey both wisely chose not to say a word, preferring to stay alive rather than face the wrath of the fiery teenage girl.

"Thanks." Tony said as he looked over at Gene.

"Don't worry about it." Gene replied easily. "I'm sorry that you two got pulled in to all this."

"Hey, us high-profile rich kids have to stick together." Tony answered with a smile as he extended a hand that Gene took.

Howard watched them shake hands as the memory faded out with a frown. Tony truly believed that Gene was a good, ordinary- okay, "rich ordinary"- friend on his side. Given the lack of times Gene's name ever came up and the hard, uncertain expressions that appeared with it, Howard wasn't sure he wanted to find out what happened between the two. He thought back to when Tony and the Mandarin had appeared to save him from Doom. The two seemed to be at each other's throats the entire time. Howard shivered slightly. Maybe watching these memories wasn't such a great idea.

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**So, to make up for my disaster attempts these last 2 weeks, you all are getting a chapter on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday. And then every Saturday after that till i'm done. Again, i'm sorry. I'm having a really weird month, and i feel bad i didn't update. I won't ask you to forgive me or anything, but i really am sorry.**


	5. Chapter 4-5

**Chapter 4.5**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing of IMAA.**

_**Preview**_

* * *

Howard, Pepper, and Rhodey waited patiently for the next memory to appear. Pepper and Rhodey appeared unfazed, already having lived through all of this and able to adapt quickly to being forced to relive it. Howard, on the other hand, was managing to keep up a perfect poker face, even though his mind was a whirlwind of colliding thoughts.

All three of them flinched violently when the blackness around them shattered like glass and a disorienting blur of colors and shouts invaded the space around them. Anger and fear filled roars swamped their senses and the colors flashed and twisted horribly, as if they were trying to reach the three of them to pull them limb from limb. Howard felt a spike of shock and fear, and Pepper let out a frightened yelp. Rhodey had one hand up in defense, his eyes wide with shock and confusion.

As quickly as it had begun, the blur of colors cracked and broke apart, sending the three stunned viewers back into the endless blackness. "What… was _that_?" Rhodey finally broke the silence.

Howard took a moment to find his voice, "Tony's having a nightmare. We're getting a fuddled glimpse of it. It must be really," Howard searched for a word, "bothering… him if we're able to see it." He disagreed with his own phrasing, but he knew Rhodey and Pepper would get the message. Tony was thoroughly terrified by whatever his tortured mind was choosing to show him.

Howard glared at the blackness, as if it was the cause of all of Tony's problems. His glare was interrupted by the spinning of color as the memories returned in full strength, like the nightmare had never existed in the first place.

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**I just had to be an idiot and post this before July and August had passed. Sorry guys, these are my busiest months when everything that will ever happen to me in a year happens all at once. It's really weird. I really should have waited to post this story. Anyways, I'm super sick right now. I caught something funny from my parents and it makes us **_**really**_** tired (I slept for 36 hours straight) and I have trouble concentrating. This is a little peak of chapter 5 to tide you over for now, I'm still writing, it's just hard to focus. It might be a bit longer; mom says that whatever this is takes a really long time to pass.**


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